Los Angeles – With the new year, comes new strategy to keep the humongous audience glued to the social media network Facebook as it continues to fine-tune has just announced a spiffy new feature. Both (iOS/Android) users will be seeing an update for their Facebook Messenger app that would allow users to send voice messages for the first time, and they are testing VoIP calling.
Interestingly, this new feature has just been added to the most recent version of Facebook’s iOS and Android mobile applications in the download for all, and perhaps more interesting, Facebook is also testing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling (à la Skype) specifically for Canada. The Canadian VoIP test will be working with iOS at first while Voice Messaging is set to hit Android and iOS all at once.
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The iOS and Android Messenger apps have been equipped with a new option alongside the photo and camera buttons, the new app now features a big red ‘Record’ toggle button inside the conversation stream that can be pushed and held to record voice messages.
To use this new feature, users simply have to hold down the record button to talk, record their voice message, and let go when they are done. As of now, voice messages are limited to one minute. The voice messages will appear directly in the conversation stream, alongside text messages.
When you are ready to send, just release the button. Letting go sends the voice message, and if you are not content with what you have recorded, slide it off to cancel the message. And prior to sending, you can listen to voice messages either from the Messenger app or from Facebook.com.
While the voice messaging feature provides a new way of interacting with friends, simultaneously, Facebook said it will also begin the beta testing of a new VoIP calling feature-but only in Canada and only for iOS users, allowing users to establish a peer-to-peer connection and make calls without making a dent in their call allowance (although it will use existing data plans). However, Canadian iOS users cannot make voice calls to Android users or U.S. users. Like all of Facebook’s location-specific tests, if it goes over well, you can expect it to roll out to more locations eventually.
In order to reap the benefits of this service, Canadian users will have to be log into their Messenger app, then open a conversation with the person they want to call, hit the ‘i’ button in the top-right corner and selecting ‘Free Call’. To send and receive calls, users will need to have the latest version of the app that is available today.
Certainly, Facebook Messenger will now serve as a call and voicemail system that potentially reaches 1 billion users. It does not matter if its not all that innovative, the service will be extremely beneficial to many millions of users around the world – that is if Facebook’s tests are successful and it is opened to users in more markets.
In addition, the possibilities seem enormously interesting, to say the least. Besides, the ability to update the service with premium services could mean additional revenue. This could be a nice additional stream of revenue for the service if it proves successful.
The Messenger updates for iOS and Android are currently rolling out.