In a report from TechCrunch last Wednesday, ads could begin showing up in Facebook Messenger within the next few months. According to TechCrunch, they claim they have a document that Facebook sent to some advertisers that announces that business will be able to send advertisements to customers via Messenger in the second quarter of this year.
If you’re concerned that your Messenger chat box will begin to be filled with a bunch of advertising clutter, here’s one bit of good news. Businesses will only be able to send messages to users who previously chatted with that company. TechCrunch wrote,
“To prepare, the document recommends that businesses get consumers to start message threads with them now so they’ll be able to send them ads when the feature launches.”
Facebook did not comment, other than to tell TechCrunch,
“We don’t comment on rumor or speculation. That said, our aim with Messenger is to create a high quality, engaging experience for 800 million people around the world, and that includes ensuring people do not experience unwanted messages of any type.”
What was confirmed by Facebook though, was that it launched a URL short link that gives users the ability to instantly start a chat thread with a business in Messenger.
This news, in a way, shouldn’t be too much of a shock for users, as the company has pushed businesses to use Messenger as a customer service channel for nearly a year now. In December, Facebook did add Messaging to the Page Plugin widget. This would make it easier for customers to interact with businesses via Messenger.