Facebook Messenger Celebrates Its 10th Birthday With Poll Games, Birthday Cash Gifting, and More

[MacRumors]

Facebook today announced updates coming to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrates its tenth birthday. The new features include a new game, tighter integration with Facebook Pay, message effects, and more.

For Messenger users in the United States, Messenger now allows you to receive cash gifts directly within the app. This is being enabled thanks to Facebook Pay, and when cash is received, it comes wrapped in a gift with virtual balloons.

In the US, we're introducing a new way to receive cash gifts directly through Messenger. When a friend sends you a cash gift for your birthday, you'll be notified on Messenger and Facebook with their gift message wrapped and accompanied by virtual balloons. Once you confirm your Facebook Pay details, the cash gift will be instantly deposited into your bank account. To send a birthday cash gift, go to the Facebook mobile app and tap the button that appears alongside your friend's birthday posts in your Facebook News Feed or their profile.

Within the app, Messenger users will now be able to conduct polls within group chats, allowing groups to easily vote on specific topics and play "Most Likely to."

In more celebratory features, Messenger is releasing a new "Messenger is 10!" sticker pack to users, offering fun effects such as purple balloons or candles. Announced previously, users can also utilize "Soundmoji" and message effects to spruce up their chats.

Smaller features include an updated way to share contacts with other friends and family, and a sneak peek at "Word Effects." According to Messenger, Word Effects will be rolling out soon and will let users add specific emoji effects to specific words.

Article Link: Facebook Messenger Celebrates Its 10th Birthday With Poll Games, Birthday Cash Gifting, and More

 

[alexandr]

and no one shows up for the party

 

[w5jck]

It is a big pile of poop IMO.

 

[6787872]

they should celebrate their birthday by shutting down

 

[deeddawg]

Instablock for anyone tagging me for the Farmville game....

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I think Facebook is the only one that’s celebrating today.

 

[5105973]

As someone who is smack in the middle of my 50’s who has seen my peers fully invested in this crap, I am really curious if anyone under 50 really wants all this garbage in their conversations? Is anyone under 50 even still on Facebook?

I remember when I was 30-something and drowning in all those forwarded jokes from every relative and friend over 50 when all I really wanted to know was how they were doing. And Lord help me if I dared to ask (nicely) to be removed from the mailing list for those things. My husband’s aunt didn’t speak to me for ages and one older friend totally dropped me.

I promised myself when it was my turn to be the grumpy old aunt I’d leave everyone the hell alone with the cutesy crap and just stick to business. Yes, I was always a grumpy mom.

 

[WWPD]

App birthdays...that's where we are now.

 

[CarlJ]

I promised myself when it was my turn to be the grumpy old aunt I’d leave everyone the hell alone with the cutesy crap and just stick to business. Yes, I was always a grumpy mom.

I'm pleased to be seen as the cool uncle who plays Minecraft (coordinating over FaceTime) with my nieces - it's a more direct connection. I walked away from Facebook a long time ago. Too much of a time sink, too much tilting at windmills, plus Facebook the company is creepy as hell.

 

[outdevo]

Facebook today announced updates coming to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrates its tenth birthday. The new features include a new game, tighter integration with Facebook Pay, message effects, and more.

For Messenger users in the United States, Messenger now allows you to receive cash gifts directly within the app. This is being enabled thanks to Facebook Pay, and when cash is received, it comes wrapped in a gift with virtual balloons.
Within the app, Messenger users will now be able to conduct polls within group chats, allowing groups to easily vote on specific topics and play "Most Likely to."

In more celebratory features, Messenger is releasing a new "Messenger is 10!" sticker pack to users, offering fun effects such as purple balloons or candles. Announced previously, users can also utilize "Soundmoji" and message effects to spruce up their chats.

Smaller features include an updated way to share contacts with other friends and family, and a sneak peek at "Word Effects." According to Messenger, Word Effects will be rolling out soon and will let users add specific emoji effects to specific words.

Article Link: Facebook Messenger Celebrates Its 10th Birthday With Poll Games, Birthday Cash Gifting, and More

10 years since I deleted the Facebook app

 

[fhopper]

I thought everyone who was even a little aware knew to never load Messenger on their phone and always use Safari to access Facebook. What Apple person trusts Facebook?!

 

[Chiaroscure]

It'd be great if they fixed the issues they've had for the last 2 years...like messages not giving notifications until a half hour later, or the chats going blank when you open it.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

Fecebook celebrates 10 anniversary of Messenger by putting up more anti-vax conspiracy groups telling your grandmother that horse paste is a cure for Covid.

 

[MacBH928]

kill it.... kill it with fire

 

[SurferPup]

Guarantee if one has SpyBook and they click on the birthday link that it will be a page full of party suppliers, your interest will be relayed to them so by tomorrow a spike in balloon ads appear for you and your friends.

 

[SurferPup]

Fecebook celebrates 10 anniversary of Messenger by putting up more anti-vax conspiracy groups telling your grandmother that horse paste is a cure for Covid.

Hilarious - I'm rolling around on the ground in fits of laughter.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[5105973]

Hilarious - I'm rolling around on the ground in fits of laughter.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I’d laugh but you all have no idea how many friends, both male and female, I’d had for over 30 years that FB caused me to become estranged from.

TL/DR: It was fine when it was about sharing and keeping in touch with each other’s life events. It was even okay when they talked about world events and politics in their own words. Where it got toxic was when they learned to recirculate manufactured garbage on their pages and assimilate these lies into their view of “reality.”
~~~~

It was fun for a year or two when I first joined. The year long lead up to the 2016 presidential election is when I first saw changes happening and noticed the toxicity growing exponentially. But it wasn’t only politics that was a problem. A bunch of them had gotten into the habit of sharing inaccurate news—about politics but also all kinds of subjects, like missing persons. It only took me a couple of minutes to determine that a story was made up or poorly reported or from years ago and completely outdated to the point of irrelevance (missing person was found safe, for example). But they’d be all up in arms about whatever.

I have friends on all parts of the political spectrum, so it wasn’t just one faction going nuts. They all were. And I’d just calmly and politely comment with corrections or links to more accurate information. My friends seemed appreciative at first but of course it’s understandable they’d get tired of me doing that. I got tired of me doing that.

But seeing people who I had valued for their honesty, integrity, generosity and decency get swept up in lies and manipulation deeply troubled me and I couldn’t just let it go unremarked and see people getting all riled up or worried about nothing.

It takes only a couple of minutes to verify or follow up on things if they concern you that much, so it baffled me why they wouldn’t do that if they’re going to spend so much time and energy working themselves up into a frenzy. Most of the junk they took seriously was memes. You can’t get nuanced, intelligent discussion from an inflammatory, manipulative meme.