Facebook Messenger will soon roll out new features and tools that are aimed at letting users connect better with friends and businesses. Facebook Pages will now have a username that can be set and edited. This username will be placed underneath the Page’s title with the ‘@’ symbol before it. In addition, Facebook will also offer users two new ways to begin chatting with a business, namely Messenger Links and Messenger Codes. Messenger Links are shortened links that open conversations with a person or a business when clicked, while Messenger Codes are scannable codes for starting a conversation. All these features will be available globally over the coming weeks. Facebook also announced that 900 million people were using Messenger every month.
Facebook says that adds Pages that already have a vanity URL will have a username already, as the Page’s username and vanity URL will be the same. For example, a Facebook Page with a vanity URL like facebook.com/JaspersMarket will have the username, @JaspersMarket. The company adds that since each username will be unique, it will be easier for people to identify businesses or people, even if the name is fairly common.
Messenger Links are short links that will make it easy for people to start a message thread. These links will have the URL, m.me/username. Messenger Codes will also help users start conversations, but will require users to scan a code via their phone’s smartphone camera. In addition, Facebook has also introduced Messenger Greetings, which are customisable greetings that will appear in a thread before messages are sent.