Dive Brief:
- Facebook is rolling out advertising that allows for News Feed ads that click into the Messenger app, according to a Facebook blog post.
- The social media platform is also launching the capability for users to make payments within the Messenger app. For now, the capability is in closed beta, but should be made more widely available soon.
- Facebook is also enabling users to share messages in the app via a share icon on the message bubble.
Dive Insight:
The new capability to pay businesses through the Messenger app is an important development for marketers and another step toward making the messaging app more brand-friendly. With a call-to-action in the app that can lead to a sale, Facebook is removing friction from the buying process and placing it directly within its walled garden.
The updates to Messenger underscore the importance of mobile for Facebook, which derived 84% of its advertising revenue from mobile in the latest quarter. Messenger now boasts over one billion monthly users.
Facebook has been rolling out chatbots to the app since this spring, with the ability for brands to build bots that can provide customer service and now take payments. The emergence of chatbot applications has come as messaging apps have grown in stature and importance with consumers.
