This is how it is with cross-messaging from Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram

Facebook has for some time wanted to ensure that you can send private messages to people on Facebook and vice versa within Instagram. Since WhatsApp belongs to the same company, Zuckerberg is also out to make that possible in that most used messaging app in the world. You can read exactly how that works and how things are now.

Facebook Messenger

A few weeks ago it turned out that some Instagram users suddenly had the option to choose Facebook Messenger with their DMs. In fact, the Messenger logo could already be seen within the photo app. This also appears to be the other way around: you can now also send messages to an Instagram account in Messenger. However, with Messenger it is not a big difference in how the app looks. Instagram’s DM screen will be different.

First, it gets more the colors and design of Facebook Messenger , but also features that were not there before. Consider, for example, being able to make messages, selfie stickers, chat colors and self-made emoji disappear. Plus, you’ll get new ways to block messages from people you’d rather not receive, and the Watch Together option that Messenger users know. This allows you to watch videos during a video call.

Facebook’s monopoly

Some people see the merging of all these platforms as a threat. After all, it makes Facebook bigger and more powerful. If you don’t want Messenger to change like this, you can choose to decline the update. By the way, it is not entirely clear when everyone will be provided with the update. It is still being tested. For example, we have not yet seen it in the Netherlands. WhatsApp is also left out of consideration for a while, it seems. Not surprising: the communication on WhatsApp is encrypted, which makes it considerably less easy to integrate with Facebook Messenger.

Zuckerberg is probably happy that things are getting better, because a year ago he said he wants his social media platforms to focus more on private messages. Especially if you can also create groups, then you already have a large part of the online communication in your pocket. That is also the tricky thing about the matter: it makes Facebook with its 1 billion users a kind of monopoly. That is something that both governments and individuals fear. Several antitrust lawsuits are already underway against Zuckerberg’s social media empire at this point. Until now, however, the CEO’s plan still seems to be going ahead, so we are waiting to see when we will see something of this in the Netherlands.