Facebook launches Messenger for web browsers

[bill]

https://recode.net/2015/04/08/facebook-launches-messenger-for-web-browsers/ [recode.net]

Facebook Launches Messenger for Web Browsers

Facebook is bringing Messenger, its standalone messaging tool, to the Web.

The social network unveiled a Web version of Messenger [messenger.com] on Wednesday, a way to chat from a browser tab on a desktop computer as you would using the Messenger app. The product is accessible at Messenger.com and resides outside of Facebook, where users can already chat with their Facebook friends from a Web browser. (It still requires a Facebook account, of course.)

More fragmentation in the messaging app world it seems. Like Google, FB is moving away from the XMPP standard, so you need to use their app or site to communicate.

Will this new site become a social network unto itself?

[engine]

There I was avoiding installing messenger on my mobile, and now it's on the desktop.

Perhaps it's to capture the audience that's missing, or, perhaps, it'll be easier to monetize.

[bill]

I've kept it off my mobile as well. It's hard to train the masses though. I guess it's better to go to the messenger.com site than FB when necessary.