Facebook on Monday began rolling out video calling on its
Messenger mobile application, enabling face-to-face
conversations among users of the app around the world.
With the new feature, users can add video to calls to another
person with the same application.
“You can quickly start a video call from any conversation with
just one tap,” Facebook said in a statement.
“If you’re messaging with someone and realize that words just
aren’t enough, you can simply choose the video icon in the
top right corner of the screen and start a video call right from
within an existing Messenger conversation.”
Similar services are offered by Microsoft’s Skype, Google
Hangouts and Apple’s FaceTime.
Facebook last year broke off Messenger from the main
Facebook application for mobile users, creating a separate
platform which now has some 600 million users.
The world’s biggest social network also opened up Messenger
to outside developers as part of its strategy to create a
“family” of apps that also includes Instagram and WhatsApp.
Free calling has been available for two years to users of
Messenger, although people may be required to pay for data
used during the connections.
“Video calling will expand Messenger’s real-time
communication features, enabling the more than 600 million
people who use Messenger every month to reach others
wherever they are, from anywhere,” the statement said. “It’s
fast, reliable and high quality.”
Video calling in Messenger is launching for people using Apple
or and Android devices in Belgium, Britain, Canada, Croatia,
Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico,
Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the US and Uruguay
and will hit more countries over the coming months.
Facebook has offered few hints on how it will monetize
Messenger, but recently unveiled a system of peer-to-peer
payments which could be adapted as an e-commerce
platform.
Another Messenger allowed users to communicate with online
merchants, essentially turning formerly impersonal Internet
shopping into ongoing text message conversations.