Last week, Facebook removed the option to create a Messenger
account without a Facebook profile.
According to a Facebook spokesperson, Facebook discovered
that most of the people use messenger through their Facebook profiles so they
wanted to simplify the process.
This option was introduced in 2015 to allow people to use Facebook Messenger in regions where Facebook isn’t available due to network limitations
or government orders. But since it wasn’t widely used and as Facebook has said
that most people use Messenger with their Facebook profiles, taking down this option would not make much difference.
Yet a question still arises, why remove it when the option
could drive even the smallest numbers of users to Facebook? This could be a contribution
to an integrated messaging system that will enable users to easily interact
with Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. This could be beneficial for
Facebook as the platform has gained increases in messaging activity over the
years.
And if in the future regulatory groups decide that the
company should be separated due to competition, then by merging its back-end
systems Facebook could debate that a break-up would not be possible, resulting
in regulators to change their minds or take a different step.
We might view the removal of sign up for Messenger without a
Facebook profile a minor change but if you see the bigger picture, it adds to
the unification of messaging and help Facebook solidify its tools.
