Dive Brief:
- Facebook is conducting a limited test of including reactions in its Messenger app, according to Engadget.
- Messenger users would have access to the five emotion icons and iconic thumbs up from the Facebook news feed as well as a thumbs down icon.
- Reactions in Messenger would be similar to stickers in iMessage or Slack team chats, although its unknown when, if ever, they might roll out as an official Messenger feature. Facebook described the test as “small” and wouldn’t commit to a launch for the new feature.
Dive Insight:
Consumers are spending more time on their mobile devices, with messaging apps and social media apps two of the most popular activities. Bringing a wider range of emotion icons to the app would offer users a familiar way to quickly convey reactions to posts within messaging chats and would also add to the app’s user experience bringing it more in line with Apple’s iMessage and Slack.
If Facebook ends up adding reactions to Messenger, it could do the same for Workplace, its answer to Slack for business use.
The news reflects the staying power of digital shorthands like emoji and stickers. For brands, it underscores how such icons, once decried as little more than a fad, are increasingly being used to add nuance and richer context to brand messaging.
Messenger is a popular messaging app with around one billion monthly active users, and has proven to be very marketer-friendly with an open API that lends itself for branded bots that marketers can use to automate some basic customer service functions as well as in-app payment capabilities that allow for mobile commerce.
