We told you late last month of Facebook’s plans to integrate the messaging functions of Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp into a single platform. Some of the benefits of the merger would include a simplified communications across Facebook’s family of apps.
Additionally, like CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed, this could also come with the possibility for users to send messages from one app to another without limits.
Facebook has now officially confirmed the merge, with the first step making it easier to manage direct communications from both Facebook and Instagram in a single place.
In a post on its newsroom website, the company has announced that Facebook Page admins will now be able to respond to Instagram Direct Messages from their Page inbox.
The new addition is a win-win deal as it will allow page admins to interact with their followers on Instagram, while ensuring that they can spend additional time on the site itself.
How does it work?
Facebook Page admins will be able to receive Instagram Direct messages and respond to them from their Page inbox on both desktop and mobile via the Pages Manager app.
The update is being rolled out in the coming weeks, first in the U.S. and Brazil.
The statistics
Facebook groups have more than 1.4 billion Facebook monthly active users, and close to half of all Instagram users currently use the Direct messaging feature. So, for any possibility to connect with brands from Instagram to Facebook, the integration is the best answer.
150 million people on Instagram have a conversation with a business every month,1 and on Messenger, 10 billion messages are sent between people and businesses every month.2
According to Statista, 30% of Facebook users belong to the age bracket 18-24 and 29% belong to the age bracket 25-34. This means that adults dominate the total Facebook user population.
The stats also reveal that 37% of Instagram users belong to the age bracket 16-24. This means that adolescents and young adults comprise a large number of the Instagram user population.
Facebook users are older while Instagram users are usually teenagers, and the numbers direct to users migrating from the latter to the former as they age.
