If it dished out a little something-something for the Lunar New Year, then Messenger surely won’t be missing out on Valentine’s Day. Messenger just announced some new features bound for V-Day, including expanded voice messages, voice message previews, and split bill payments. That last one sounds perfect for crash dating.

Messenger Hearts

Starting with voice messages, Messenger is adding the capacity to preview your voice message before sending, which adds a way to be able to create more quality recording given that more people are turning to audio as a connection option. Moreover, Messenger is also increasing the duration of voice messages from a minute all the way up to 30 – you could literally read an entire chapter from a book and send it as an audio clip.

Though audio social tools are a bit different from the mainstream ones we all know and love, the often live, the two-way exchange does open all new sorts of opportunities. At least on Messenger, audio messages are still clearly utilized, prompting Meta to decide on implementing longer recordings.

For Valentine’s Day, such an update could mean leaps and bounds for Messenger engagement, allowing people to ramble away and literally pour their hearts out on the “most romantic day of the year”. Just be sure to have everything ironed out before recording, lest you come to hate that preview option after committing a mistake 29 minutes into your message.

Messenger is also introducing split bill payments in chats, which, again, could come in pretty handy on dates. Just don’t intentionally “forget” to bring extra. How this plays out is that you can request that the total bill be split between members of a chat. Messenger will allocate the required amount to each user, enabling easy, fee-free splitting via the app, making a group of more than two people better manage slightly loftier bill totals. Split billing is currently available on U.S iOS and Android devices.

Lastly, Messenger Kids also jumps on the V-Day train by getting some new artworks and a couple of interactive options to help kids join in on the event.

“Starting today, kids can share virtual valentines with approved contacts using new AR effects, photo frames and sticker packs. Try shooting arrows as baby cupid, dancing around as the Queen of Hearts, or adding a sweet touch with glowing heart cheeks.”

The Wrap

Valentine’s Day is all about love, meaning that it’s not solely restricted to romantic relationships. It seems that this is a trend that Messenger was able to catch and effectively capitalize on, introducing elements meant to maximize engagements surrounding one of the most anticipated holidays every year.

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Sources 

https://bit.ly/3oDYCW4