Facebook Messenger to add desktop app among other new features at F8 conference

Like it or not, Facebook Messenger is one of the biggest messaging platforms at the moment. The FB Newsroom post has given us some insight into things to come at the company’s upcoming F8 conference.

Over the past 12 months Messenger has seen a major overhaul of the UI, new functionality added and an array of tweaks and changes to make it more user friendly. Finally one of the most sought after items is coming – a desktop app for MacOS and Windows.

This is to provide the continuity of conversation between the desktop and mobile platform that most competitors currently don’t have or aren’t delivering well. The desktop application should be available “later this year” but no date is offered yet.

The Desktop app isn’t the only attention that has been given to the user experience, they’ve heard the complaints about speed and are also launching a new mobile offering called “Project LightSpeed”. With the claim it’s Messenger but launches in under 2 seconds and only takes 30mb of install space on your device, LightSpeed should offer users of even low range devices the ability to get messaging with family and friends quickly. Unfortunately there is no clear indication of a launch date at this time.

Finally the watch together feature is making a solid move to Messenger to allow you a private space to watch videos with your friends.

When you’re not together in your physical living room, this new feature creates a virtual living room where you can discover and share videos from Facebook to build closer connections. You’ll be able to seamlessly share a video from the Facebook app on Messenger and invite others to watch the video together in real time while messaging or on a video chat. This could be your favorite show, a funny clip or even home videos.

There will undoubtedly be other leaps forward in terms of performance and functionality that have not made their blog post.

What would you like to see added to Messenger?