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May 22, 2015 09:26 AM EDT
Facebook Messenger will now give users some background information on the people who are sending them messages for the first time.
Facebook is home to over a billion users, so it's bound to only be a matter of time before a random person sends an unexpected message. Considering even just the Messenger app alone already has 600 million users, according to NDTV, it would be nice to learn just a little bit about the random person who may be trying to strike up an honest to goodness, friendly conversation.
The background information will appear regardless of whether or not the person sending the message is already a friend on Facebook or not.
As for what exactly is the kind of information that will be shared via the Messenger app, people can take comfort in the knowledge that it will all be made up of the already publicly available background information. This accounts for things such as the user's current city and job title, according to Tech Crunch.
It's basically the same kind of information people can see if they take the time to look over someone's profile before talking to them. The new feature could be thought of as just making it easier for people to learn more about each other without having to go through profiles.
The new feature can work almost as an icebreaker of sorts, according to Mashable, allowing users to know right off the bat whether someone who is messaging them is a person they are interested in talking to, or someone they would be better off ignoring.
Messenger's new feature will be rolling it out over the next few weeks in selected areas. Right now, it's scheduled to become available in France, India, the U.S., and the U.K.
The new Facebook Messenger will be available to both iOS and Android users.