1) Messenger is becoming a dominant messaging platform with over 800 million monthly users and growing rapidly. It aims to match the all-encompassing functionality of WeChat in China.
2) By integrating additional services like payments, commerce, and customer service into the Messenger platform, Facebook hopes to create a self-contained digital experience and discourage users from leaving the Facebook ecosystem.
3) If successful, this could transform digital marketing and commerce by centralizing interactions with businesses and brands within private conversations on Messenger.
2. WHY CARE?
• We’re living in the messenger era: the rise in popularity of chat apps is an internet phenomenon
not seen since Facebook- and might well surpass it, with 2 billion people projected to use
messaging apps by 2018
• Messenger is the only western app that has the user-base and functionality to match WeChat’s
dominance in China for the West and become an app fully integrated into the lifestyle of a user,
where you can book a taxi, pay a bill, or buy an item of clothing via one app
The question remains if Messenger can convince its user base to embrace its multi-functionality, if it can
it will change digital marketing as we know it. Messenger is the next era of commerce and customer
service for businesses:
• A personalised, rich customer experience
• And a frictionless commerce experience that removes the traditional e-commerce experience to
one of seamless conversations
Long term implication: a potential walled in experience where Facebook absorbs the internet- what motivation will be there to leave the Facebook
experience? To watch a video? Facebook is now a video platform where fans can discover the latest videos. For news? via Instant Articles users now get the
news direct to their feed, without directing traffic back towards publishers; with Messenger Facebook closes the loop even further, why bother now with
email when you can talk directly to the company via Messenger
Absurd? In China the average consumer used to engage with at least six apps in 2013 now that’s down to two: WeChat and Weibo; these platforms
created a network that provided the user little reason to leave. A path Facebook and Messenger are treading … all hail Zuckerberg!
3. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
% monthly active usage
(UK)
IMPACT: MESSENGER IS A PHENOMENON
• Globally 800 million people use Messenger each month
• In just over a year Messenger has increased its user base
by 300% (Apr 14 to Dec 15)
• Messenger is the second most downloaded app of all time
(behind Facebook)
• Messenger is the most popular messaging app in the UK
and the second most popular social network, behind
Facebook
• A broad demographic reach: Messenger is used as much
monthly by 16-24 year olds as 25-34 year olds in the UK
Messaging Apps
0
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
5000000
16 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64
Messenger apps by age-group
(UK)
Facebook Messenger Snapchat WhatsApp (Since Q2 2015)
All charts are from GWI (Q4 2015)
4. SOCIAL IS CHANGING: POPULARITY REFLECTS A WIDER TREND TOWARDS
PRIVATE PEER-TO-PEER MESSAGING
• A change in dynamic: in 2013 Facebook admitted seeing a "decrease in
daily users, specifically among teens“ as this audience started to
gravitate towards private messaging apps, precipitated by the growth of
smartphones, like Snapchat and Whatsapp
• Battling back: the decision to separate Messenger enabled Facebook to
develop its own standalone messaging platform and entrench itself in
what is being termed “the messaging era”
• Impact: the projected growth is staggering, with 2 billion people
projected to use messaging apps by 2018
"The messaging era is definitely now. It's the one thing people do more than anything else on their phone... In terms of time spent,
attention, retention - this is where it's happening. And it's a once in a generation opportunity to build it.”- David Marcus, vice president
of messaging products at Facebook
5. THE NEW SOCIAL: EAST MEETS WEST
"What's happening in Asia is an inspiration - and not only WeChat, but that's more about proof of what's
possible. It's proof that everything starts from a conversation. There were 2,000 years when everything
happened through a conversation, then a blip when the web came out when behaviour was very
structured - you'd go to websites, look for things to buy, and it was straight-up merchandising when you'd
assume there were no human beings behind it. In Asia, the conversation was never removed. That's why
people are discovering the world through those apps.”
Stan Chudnovsky- head of product management Messenger
6. IN CHINA WECHAT IS INTEGRATED INTO
THE FABRIC OF SOCIETY
Buy cinema
tickets
Send/receive
lucky money
Multiple
persons
video
call
Room
controls
Walkie
talkie
Customer
service
(brands
interact with
their fans)
Pay a
restaurant
bill
Banking
Mercha
nts and
Brands
Book a
taxi
7. MESSENGER HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM SOCIAL IN THE
WEST TOWARDS A WECHAT ECO-SYSTEM
• Messenger has the user base and demographic reach to replicate for the West WeChat’s social
and commercial eco-system in China– and by implication its dominance
• Messenger does everything, it’s a multi-use communication platform; the strategy is intended so
users won’t even need to leave Facebook’s world to communicate. Currently the main features
are:
• Make voice and video calls
• Send texts
• Send photos, videos, voice messages, and stickers
• Send money to your friends- Messenger keeps the conversation and the payment in the
same message thread. So to send money, you just need to start a message with a friend, tap
the $ icon, enter the amount you want to send, tap “Pay” in the top-right corner, and add
your debit card to send money. To receive money, just open the conversation from your
friend and add a debit card if you’re accepting money for the first time.
• Install apps- enabling third-party developers to create apps opens up messenger to
become a diverse ecosystem in the same way that Facebook turned its social network into a
platform for games and group conversations; mirrors the success WeChat has had
developing a similar eco-system
“To be honest, I do [worry]. I get to talk to people
at all the other major tech companies in the
Valley—Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Amazon,
Yahoo. They just don’t understand what’s going to
happen in chat. They just all are totally
underestimating where chat is going. Facebook
completely gets it.” Ted Livingston founder of
Messenger competitor KIK
8. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Facebook Facebook
Messenger
Snapchat YouTube WhatsApp Twitter Instagram Tumblr Google+ None of
the above
Pinterest
Age 16-21 % active usage
(UK)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Facebook Facebook
Messenger
YouTube WeChat WhatsApp Instagram Twitter Sina Weibo Google+ None of
the above
Snapchat
Age 16-21 % active usage
(Global)
POSSIBLE CHALLENGES: CONVINCING GENERATION Z
• By the end of 2015 Messenger was the fastest-declining app in
popularity among college students (Snapchat was second),
according to a recent poll from Way Up
• In the U.S. , Messenger lagged behind chat app competitors in
terms of time spent per user; Messenger gets 236 minutes of use
per user. Snapchat is at 272 and Kik is at 297, only trailing Instagram
in the top 25
• However, research from Global Web Index suggests that Messenger
is well on its way to convincing 16-21 year olds to use Messenger-
and in the UK’s case nearly overtaking active usage of Facebook-
and in pole position as it develops to translate this behaviour as the
main way people use the internet
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Facebook Facebook
Messenger
Snapchat YouTube Instagram Pinterest Tumblr Twitter None of
the above
Google+ Vine
Age 16-21 % active usage
(US)
All charts are from GWI (Q4 2015)
9. WHAT IT WILL MEAN FOR BUSINESSES
We’re at the beginning of the roll out to Messenger for business. What it will mean
once Messenger opens its doors to businesses is:
• Businesses on Messenger enable personal, real-time conversations with your
customers
• Connecting with customers: When people check out on a brand’s website, they
can sign up to connect with the brand in Messenger. Then the company will be
able to send them a personalised update
• Send rich, detailed messages the customer will appreciate. A company can use
custom layouts designed for order confirmation, shipping updates and more. This
lets your customers keep all their order info in one place and reach out to you if
they need to change anything
• Offer support on a whole new level. Be available to a brand’s customers in a more
personal way and answer any questions that come up through the preferred live
chat provider
"Helping people communicate more naturally with businesses will improve, I think, almost every person's life because it's
something everyone does.”
Mark Zuckerberg
10. IMPLICATION: THE END OF THE TRADITIONAL E-COMMERCE JOURNEY
Traditional e-commerce journey: you go to a
website.
You have to create an account - that's one
email.
You add something to your shopping cart and
check out - that's another email. The package
ships - that's another email.
When it arrives, that's another. That's four
emails that are distinct threads that are not
canonical.
Impact: It's painful on desktop, it's impossible
on mobile. That's why, for the majority of
online retailers, 60% of their website traffic is
mobile - but only 10% to 12% of checkouts
are mobile. And mobile traffic will continue
increasing.
Messenger's answer is to enable businesses
and customers to communicate through
conversation threads
Impact: e.g. order a T-shirt and you get a
message with a shipping notification and a
map . A purchasers whole history with the
outlet is on that thread
After months without any contact a consumer
can just message to order - and the outlet can
reply, 'Would you like the crew type like your
previous T-shirts?‘
Once you interact with a business, you open a
thread that will stay forever. You never lose
context, and the business never loses context
about who you are and your past purchases
A seamless experience
The present The Future
11. BUSINESSES ON MESSENGER: IT’S JUST THE START
Customer Service
When you book a ticket, you get a
message inside Messenger from KLM
with your itinerary; you get an
interactive bubble when it's time to
check in, and you get your boarding
pass, your updates on gates, delays -
and if you want to change your flight,
you type that in the thread and they
do it for you right there and then.
Other brands using Messenger for
customer service: Hyatt, Sprint
Messenger for news
Bild, the German tabloid site,
began testing sending news
updates through Messenger
Messenger for bots
Feels like people are having an
authentic conversation with the
characters; brands can use this to
impersonate mascots or celebrities —
in December, to celebrate Back to the
Future Day, Universal let people “chat”
with film character Doc Brown about
how he’s finding the “future.” Brands
like Pepsi were mentioned, in a
futuristic bit of product placement
Other brands using messenger bots:
Disney
Messenger for
commerce
Facebook Messenger will now let users
order Uber rides from within the
messaging app as part of a push to turn
the service into a commerce platform
Customers can both order from the
ride-sharing service and make a
payment from within the Messenger
app.
12. WILL MESSENGER OPEN UP TO ADVERTISING?
Sheryl Sandberg in Sept 2015 said Facebook was still in the very the “very early experimentation stage” of advertising coming to Messenger. CEO Mark
Zuckerberg has said that the company planned to let people and businesses start messaging each other ad-free. Then, once it became natural for both people
and businesses to communicate that way, Facebook would start finding ways to find revenue from the businesses.
One ad type mooted by Facebook’s ad exec Andrew Bosworth is the “Click to message” ads: The idea is that businesses would design ads about their
company or product, and then Facebook would place a little "Message" button at the bottom. If a person saw the ad and then felt compelled to click the
message button and send the business a question or comment, then the business would pay for that ad click.
13. THE FUTURE
Replace the phone
number
Messenger now lets anyone send a
message request to anyone on Facebook,
effectively eliminating the need to know
someone’s phone number
Make Messenger your
personalized social space
If Messenger can be where you talk with
your closest friends, which you’ll do very
frequently, it can use that gravity to pull in
other types of conversations. Facebook will
continue adding ways to customise your
threads with more feeling, “your very own
social handshake.”
Artificial Intelligence
Facebook wants to differentiate
Messenger from all the other ways to
text message and it’s built the
personal assistant M. M’s
combination of human and artificial
intelligence will teach Facebook about
what people could want out of
Messenger beyond messaging, and
help it understand natural language.
That could tie into more voice-based
interfaces for Messenger, where it
could transcribe dictation or read you
messages aloud.
Delight users
Facebook are embracing a more
light-hearted approach with
Messenger. You could make hearts or
snow rain down on chat threads with
the right emoji. These little design
flourishes remind people they’re
using a messaging platform with
more humanity than cold, robotic
SMS and potentially help
keep/attract the young audience