Facebook has recently released a series of updates to its standalone Facebook Messenger application for both the iOS and Android operating systems. One of the most notable new feature in the updates is a notification that informs a user if a friend has viewed a message the user sent and at what time it was viewed. The same feature will also appear in the group chat function. This is particularly helpful in this application since friends usually set up meetings and get togethers while chatting on Facebook. This way, everyone will know a message was read by all of the friends in the chat.
Aside from the “read receipt” notification, Facebook has also added a tag indicating the location of the user. The name of the city or town is shown next to the message along with a small graphic for Gogle Maps to give a visual idea of where the location is.
The new feature, much like the same feature in the BlackBerry Messenger, cannot be turned off, so you can’t use the excuse that you haven’t read a message just because you didn’t want to reply to it. What can be turned off though is the sharing of the location and GPS map coordinate of the user in each message.
One other change that you will notice with the new Facebook Messenger update is the way your friend’s name will appear in the chat window. Whereas before, the user will only see an ellipsis when he types a message, now you can see the friend’s name in the chat window.
This is not the end of the updates that Facebook plans for its messaging feature. A future update will actually include some form of video chat, through an integration with Skype.
Originally posted on May 7, 2012 @ 6:16 am
