The Facebook Messenger app started as a simple app for messaging but soon became a clutter, overwhelming users with features like games, sending money to friends, and customer service bots. The company has acknowledged user feedback and promised to devote resources to simplifying the app.
Facebook VP of messaging products, David Marcus, addressed the features clutter and promised massive streamlining of the Messenger app in 2018.
“Over the last two years, we built a lot of capabilities to find the features that continue to set us apart. A lot of them have found their product market fit; some haven’t. While we raced to build these new features, the app became too cluttered. Expect to see us invest in massively simplifying and streamlining Messenger this year.”
To test out the idea of a simpler messaging app, Facebook rolled out an Android-only app last year called Messenger Lite. The app was aimed at developing countries with less data but found it’s way to the U.S. and other markets as the simplified design grew popular.
Seemingly caught up in the race to add features, Facebook added augmented reality, online trading, and sponsored posts to the Messenger app. Now they have realized that users appreciate a sleek design. The company has promised to make improvements to the Messenger app and revamp the news feed algorithm to focus on updates from friends, helping users stay connected with those they care about.
