Has Facebook Messenger become too complicated?

Seven in ten recently surveyed respondents told Facebook that their number one priority for an email application was "simplicity".

Facebook has apparently received the message. On Wednesday, Facebook began deploying Messenger 4 worldwide, touted as a "new, simplified version" of the popular email service.

For starters, Facebook has reduced the number of tabs from nine to three as follows:

  • The Cats tab allows you to organize one-to-one and group chats, as well as a place to shoot and share a selfie.
  • The Contacts tab allows you to spend time with your friends, share stories and see who is currently active.
  • And the Discover tab is the perfect place to follow news, book vacations, play games and connect with businesses.

Facebook applies other design changes that hopefully will make Messenger more attractive. A small change brings personalized "color gradients" that are designed to dress conversation bubbles and reflect your mood. For example, Facebook indicates that colors change from red to blue when you scroll through a conversation.

The changes are coming slowly, so it will take a little more than 1.3 billion users of Messenger to access the latest version. In a blog post, Stan Chudnovsky, vice president of Facebook Messenger, said: "It can take time to get used to the changes of an application on which you rely every day, especially when it's time to change. that's why we are deploying Messenger 4 in phases. "

For example, coming soon, a feature called Dark Mode is a redesigned interface that aims to reduce the glare of your phone.

While Chudnovsky says the new Messenger will be simpler and easier to use – we'll see – he adds that Facebook does not remove any existing features.

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