Facebook: About 1.2 billion users actively use Messenger to stay in touch

Image Credit: Facebook

Over 1.2 billion people use Facebook Messenger every month globally to stay in touch with the people and businesses that matter to them the most. In the last few months, Facebook has added group video calling, a powerful and fast camera – preloaded with stickers, masks, frames, effects and the ability to share photos and videos to your Day, making it easy and fun to share what’s happening in your life, moment by moment.

“I keep on hearing powerful stories about how our product is becoming a more important part of your daily lives. So from all of us here at Messenger, a heartfelt thank you to all of you for giving us a chance to build something good and more meaningful for you,” said David Marcus, Vice President, Messaging Products, Facebook, in a post on Wednesday.

The company has also launched Mentions and Reactions to make group conversations on Messenger fun and engaging. Last month, Facebook Messenger added a new feature Live Location that lets you share – for an hour within a private direct or group message thread – your real-time location on a map.

Publish date: April 14, 2017 11:07 am| Modified date: April 14, 2017 11:07 am

Google has finally added the ability to share files with Allo and make audio-only calls with Duo

Google said on Wednesday it would offer an audio-only option on its Duo video calls service to help users communicate using poor-quality connections, and was adding a feature to permit file sharing in group chats on its Allo messaging App. The company launched Google Duo in August, providing video calls for users on Android and iOS, pitting it against Apple Inc’s FaceTime, Microsoft Corp’s video-calling app Skype and Facebook Inc’s Messenger.

Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, said audio-only calls on Duo would be available from Wednesday in Brazil, and would be rolled out to users around the world in the coming days. The audio-only calls would work well on all connection speeds and be data efficient, Google Vice President for Product Management Mario Queiroz said in a blog post after he announced the moves at a Google conference in Sao Paulo.

With more than 139 million people online, Brazil ranks among the top five internet populations in the world. In response to requests from users in countries like Brazil, Google said that Android users everywhere would be able to share documents and other files (.pdf, .docs, .apk, .zip, and mp3) with friends on Allo in group chats.

It also said it was rolling out two new features for Google Photos on Android and iOS to make backup and sharing easier on low connectivity. “Now your photos will back up automatically in a lightweight preview quality that’s fast on 2G connections and still looks great on a smartphone,” Queiroz said in the blog post announcing the new features.

When a stronger Wi-Fi connection becomes available, backed up photos would be replaced with high-quality versions, he added. Google also said it was adding a new location sharing feature in Google Maps to allow users to let friends and family know where they were and when they would arrive at their destination. Users can stop sharing that information at any time, Queiroz said.

Reuters

Publish date: March 23, 2017 12:05 pm| Modified date: March 23, 2017 12:05 pm

Facebook launches group video chat on Facebook Messenger

By tech2 News Staff /  20 Dec 2016 , 10:38

Facebook has announced the launch of group video chat to Facebook Messenger. The company claims that this is the most requested feature by the users for the chat platform. The feature is set to roll out worldwide across Android, iOS and desktop starting today.

Facebook says that about 245 million users make video calls per month, ensuring that there is a new way for people to feel closer to each other. The company also announced the launch of 3D masks to be used during conversations on video calls. The feature is currently exclusive to iOS users but the Android version will follow soon.

Image Credit: Facebook

One thing to note is that the users can see six people at any given time in the video chat and the maximum number of people in a group video chat can go up to 50. However, the participants of the video call will only see the dominant speaker. To start a group video call, you need to go to a group conversation and tap on the video icon on the upper right corner of the screen to launch.

After initiating the video call people can join in when they are ready. However, as detailed in this Facebook blog post, you can directly call the whole group or a few people directly. This feature rollout comes right after the introduction of camera update for Facebook Messenger.

WhatsApp announced staged rollout of Video Calling feature for everyone in coming weeks

By tech2 News Staff /  15 Nov 2016 , 13:38

WhatsApp will start the roll-out of ‘Video Calling’ in coming weeks in stages. The company was working on the video calling featured behind in closed beta test since last 4-5 months. It launched the features as a hidden feature for Android Beta users last month and we tried the quality and reliability of the feature as soon as it was rolled out. This rollout will be for everyone across Android, iPhone and Windows Phone devices.

WhatsApp video calling

The company detailed that the feature has been frequently requested by users all across the world. This comes as a natural step in the feature evolution for WhatsApp after the introduction to Group Chats, Voice calling and most recently the launch of web and Windows client for users. WhatsApp users can converse with each other using the feature without having to go to any other VoIP platform like Skype or Viber.

Mr. Neeraj Arora, Head of Business, WhatsApp and Mr. Manpreet Singh
Image Credit: WhatsApp

“Video calling is one of the most requested features from people in India. We’re proud to have the opportunity to launch this feature in India, where we now have 160 million users, and we look forward to seeing people use WhatsApp to talk to their friends and loved ones face to face,” added Jan Koum, CEO and Co-Founder for WhatsApp. The company is working on additional features like ‘Two-Step Verification‘, GIF search inside the app and a new Snapchat ‘Snaps’ like ‘Status’ feature that will allow users to share distructable images or videos to the contact list or individual WhatsApp contacts.