Facebook Messenger reaches 500 million users
Despite it being an app many people complained about having to install it in the first place, Facebook's Messenger app has more than 500 million people users to date.
The Facebook Messenger app was launched in 2011. Last spring, Facebook announced it would remove messaging capabilities from the standard Facebook mobile app and require all users to download the standalone Messenger app if they wanted to continue to send and receive messages on their mobile devices.
"Messaging is an important part of how people stay connected," Peter Martinazzi, director of product management, wrote in a blog post. "Since Messenger launched in 2011 we've been passionate about giving people a faster and more expressive way to communicate."
The Facebook messenger app allows users to chat, send videos, make free calls and chat with groups.
The amount of app users have grown at a steady pace. The company said in April that its Messenger service had over 200 million users.
Messenger is catching up to WhatsApp, which Facebook bought earlier this year for roughly $22 billion. WhatsApp recently reported reaching 600 million users.
According to the social network's FAQ, people tend to reply about 20 percent faster on Messenger than on Facebook.
"This is an exciting milestone but with a half billion people relying on Messenger to communicate and connect, it is also a reminder that there is so much left for us to do," Martinazzi wrote in the blog.
