One billion people now use Facebook Messenger every month, making it one of the biggest communication applications in the world. As it continues to grow, however, we should take some time to look through the Ts&Cs.
More than 17 billion photos are sent between friends via Messenger every month, 22 million GIFS are sent everyday and users have played 1.2 billion games of basketball via the application too.
So, you know, it is very popular.
Commenting on the billion monthly user milestone, David Marcus, VP of Facebook Messenger said,
"As part of this journey to one billion, we focused on creating the best possible experiences in modern day communications. We remain focused on helping connect people to the people and businesses who matter most. Thank you everyone who uses Messenger around the world, and we're looking forward to connecting the next billion."
Privacy:
It wasn't that long ago that people were up in arms over the notion of having to download a separate application for Facebook Messenger in order to continue using the service from Facebook. When the new app was launched many users feared the amount of information the service required to function.
If you download the Facebook Messenger app, you are basically handing your phone over to Mark Zuckerberg.
— Thomas Dodson (@shockthomas) August 2, 2014
This is from the terms and conditions of the Facebook messenger app. do not download, guys. scary crap. pic.twitter.com/AXElHNHVrj
— Cami Bartowski (@CamiBartowski) August 4, 2014
Facebook defended the requirements for the application to run, but almost one year on, it still doesn't sit quite right with me. A recent update of the application altered the service to now include text messages within the app. This means if a user opens their Messenger app, they will see both their Facebook messages and their text messages. The idea behind this is that Messenger will become the one-stop-shop for mobile communications.
While I know that this is convenient and probably harmless, I don't like the idea of my personal text messages being accessed by Facebook. If Facebook had their way, they would access your calendar, camera, contacts, microphone, SMS, storage, telephone and location.
Rather than freaking out about this, however, we can take control of the situation and decide what we want them to access or not.
Users can go to their application settings on their device and toggle off anything they do not want the app to have access to.
