Facebook is not slowing down in the race to conquer social media. On Tuesday, Facebook Messenger introduced video calling, so users can have face to face conversations with their friends and loved ones anytime, anywhere.
"You can quickly start a video call from any conversation with just one tap. If you're messaging with someone and realize that words just aren't enough, you can simply choose the video icon in the top right corner of the screen and start a video call right from within an existing Messenger conversation," Facebook announced on its Newsroom yesterday.
The video calling service can be used via Wi-Fi or via cellular network and is free of charge, just like Facebook's regular voice calls. And unlike other free video calling services, Zuckerberg's team boasts of a high quality video call. Those who are using the Internet via their mobile network may be charged by their Internet service provider, in order to use the service absolutely free of charge, users must use a Wi-Fi connection instead.
What the new FB feature does is it adjusts the video call quality depending on the users' connection. Messenger will also notify the caller if the signal is too weak and cannot handle a video call. If this is the case, the caller can just opt for a voice call instead.
The new service from FB has been rolled out to several countries yesterday including the US, the UK, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, Belgium, and Mexico among others. The service will be available in other countries in the next few months and is available to both Android and iOS.
The goal, as Tech Crunch reported, is for Facebook to be able to connect people no matter the distance or type of connection. Someone from one part of the globe with a strong LTE connection for instance, can video call someone thousands of miles away who has a poor signal.
Prior to the video calling feature, Facebook also recently launched services such as sending and receiving money via Messenger and the Messenger Platform.
The social media network wanted to make creating apps that can integrate with Messenger easier for developers, hence, the Messenger Platform. The new platform enable FB users connect with friends and family members through Messenger integrated apps.
