Facebook Messenger unveils new video and business features

Just in time for Facebook’s big F8 developer conference, Messenger is getting a swag of new features.

The messaging app is going to become even faster and lighter, where the company claims the app’s launch time will be trimmed to under two seconds, and its size a fraction of what it once was. 

Internally, the project is called LightSpeed, and the size of the app will be less than 30MB — that’s 70MB less than the current version of Messenger.

Currently testing and expected to fully roll out later this year, the company’s also bringing the co-watching feature that’s already available on Facebook to Messenger. It’ll allow you to watch a video together with your friends inside the app. 

Messenger will also have a desktop app for MacOS and Windows, which will come with the same features you see on mobile. The desktop app is set to be released in late 2019.

Messenger has been handy for businesses who want to sell you stuff, and it’s rolling out features to help draw in customers.

It’s launching an appointment booking tool, which can be synced up with existing calendaring software, and allows for bookings to be modified and cancelled through Messenger.

In the coming months, advertisers will have the option to run a lead generation campaign through Messenger. An automated question and answer system will allow businesses to recognise genuinely interested customers.

Facebook’s F8 conference kicks off from Tuesday, and after a horror year, it’ll do well to get people excited about new features again.