New Facebook Messenger & Voice App to end SMS text lingo?

Early in December 2012 there were rumours of Facebook creating a Messenger app for Android that was aimed at getting mobile users off SMS, and on that FB social network’s own messaging service.  In fact, at the time Facebook posted this news where they said, starting that day anyone could create a FB Messenger account with just their name and phone number, so they could FB message (vs. SMS or text) their mobile contacts and do so even without a Facebook account!

The idea is that Facebook will verify each new account by simply sending an SMS message containing an access code to the user’s mobile number. And once the user enters that secret code, their account is activated (identifying them as a unique user, given their unique mobile number). From then on, the phone number and a password are all that are needed to login and use the service between their friends.

Although people speculated this strategy was for Facebook to boost its online adoption rates (knowing this unified umbrella could extend to all forms of electronic chat – including, email, IM, and SMS) people did think it was the start of something much bigger.  All said, ppl stiL do not kno wot u r typin & nEd it convrtd.Facebook-Messenger-Logo

Well, good news is Facebook is now rumoured to be testing in Canada a voice calling system that has nothing to do with sms text lingo, but will let friends call friends just like Skype.   So the question remains, will one day sms text lingo be translated from voice to text and visa versa?  Who knows……

Shawn Manaher

Shawn Manaher is the founder and CEO of The Content Authority and Transl8it.com. He’s a seasoned innovator, harnessing the power of technology to connect cultures through language. His worse translation though is when he refers to “pancakes” as “flat waffles”.