Becoming friends on Facebook just became a whole lot easier.
On Thursday, Facebook Messenger rolled out Messenger Codes – circular patterns around a user’s profile photo which can be scanned to start a chat with that person. It’s basically a take on QR codes, but for connecting with people on Facebook.
No more misspelled names or phone numbers.
They also introduced Messenger Links, a short URL code that is unique to a person’s Messenger profile in the form of ‘m.me/username.’
The news was announced by Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerburg, who shared his dog Beast’s Messenger Code as an introduction to the new features.
And while its main use for many people will be to connect with friends on Facebook, Zuckerburg said it’s a major feature for businesses, too.
He said in a post: “Businesses can use Messenger Links and Messenger Codes in ads, on their website or in any other marketing channel to prompt people to reach out to them directly.”
And businesses with Facebook pages get a few additional options, too. Soon, pages will start showing Messenger usernames underneath the page title, and they’ll also get Messenger Greetings – short text messages that appear in a new message thread before anyone starts the conversation.
Given that the app has more than 900 million active users, this will be a major new feature for both individuals and businesses.
