If you’ve not been in the loop recently, Facebook has been giving Groups quite the focus this latter part of 2021; and now, it seems that it’s also bringing Messenger in the fray. Messenger is scheduled to roll out a couple of new holiday features, including influencer-inspired group AR effects, fresh Soundmoji options (Featuring Taylor Swift), and a new ‘Bill-Split’ options test within group chat threads. Group-based messaging, it would seem, is also in line to get a few Christmas goodies.
What’s In The Bag?
Starting off, the new group of video call effects, which are interactive AR features, can be applied to multiple people in a video chat. Based on what they’re called, this should come as no surprise, and the quirky new effects include a Royal Crown, a Retro Recording Display, and many more. They basically made group video calls that much more enjoyable.
Given the added engagement factor, the features themselves are not the key notes of interest. That honor goes to who Messenger partnered up with in order to create them – Messenger has teamed up with various high-profile influencers from other platforms in order to greatly boost the initiative. The partner list includes the likes of Vine legend King Bach, TikTok star Bella Poarch, and video magic effects expert Zach King.
Looking at things in a broader sense, it could be that this is another step in Facebook’s push to win back younger users. By essentially collaborating with popular creators, Facebook, through messenger, hopes to maximize awareness of its new group AR features. While the effects themselves are not particularly that engaging, especially when compared to the effects Snapchat offers, the idea that these we made in-tandem with some of the trendiest creators in internet history offers a way to (potentially) significantly boost awareness, especially among younger fan bases (though King Bach and Zack also have the ability to deeply connect with users who once keenly followed Vine).
Furthermore, Messenger has also added a new Taylor Swift Soundmoji set, in honor of her new album ‘Red’. Soundmojis, launched back in July, displays both an emoji character and plays an audio snippet, which recipients later hear once receive and read the messages. In other words, ‘Soundmojis’ are basically audio clips with attached unique emojis.
Last but certainly not least, Messenger is also testing a new function that would allow for ‘Split Payments’, enabling users to “share” bills, thereby making higher-costing expenses more manageable. Based on early screen captures, the new option will have Messenger automatically divide the full cost among recipients, in which you can opt to either include or exclude yourself from the equation. Payments can then be directly facilitated within the app, through Facebook Pay.
The Wrap
The update is mainly a minor one, but the additions are decent and very much welcomed, at least they can add loads more engagement and can help bring a tiny bit more relevance to Messenger, allowing Meta a bit of room to level with TikTok. Meanwhile, that bill-split payment option can come in mighty handy as an alternative payment method, which could also improve usage on Meta’s payment tools.
The new AR effects will help greatly in terms of spreading awareness about the new features and are available to all users. Bill-splitting, however, is currently being tested for the US for the meantime.
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