Facebook Messenger No Longer Requires Facebook in Select Regions

It was announced yesterday that Facebook will be changing the requirements for Facebook Messenger. In select countries, you can now sign up for the messaging service using only a phone number; it’s no longer obligatory to have a Facebook account. So, if you’re in Canada, the U.S., Peru, or Venezuela you’ll now have this opportunity. This may not do much to help Messenger expand and grow its client base in the long run, it’s already a heavily used service, but it makes it a much more viable tool when compared with its competition. Tools like Skype, WhatsApp, or Kik have been offering this as a feature for quite awhile. So, it makes sense for Facebook to reach parity with other products; doing so even gives them a bit of an edge considering their current user base. If all works well, you can probably expect Facebook Messenger to standardize this across all of its regions.

For those that are averse to creating an actual Facebook account this provides the option to sign up for Messenger without the social media platform. To do so, all you have to do is select the “Not on Facebook” button when signing up for Messenger. It will then ask you for your phone number and your good to go. This will simply provide people with an alternate way for messaging people over WiFi or data. If you’re okay with joining Facebook, or you already have an account, you can link your account and gain easy access to communicate with others that do use the social media platform just like that. Doing so will also allow the service to work cross device, on your phone, or your PC, etc. In either case it’s an excellent opportunity to join a service that others that you know probably already use.