A couple of years ago I wrote about Facebook. I have written about it several times over the years. In my reviews, I am not always complimentary. To me, it is a very unorganized mass of information. The posts are rearranged in some unknown manner that is only understood by the Facebook developers resulting in a non-smooth and disorganized flow. I hate it when I read a post, go back two minutes later to show it to someone and poof…it has vanished. But, hey, there are some good pictures of folks I have not heard of for 20 years. They are “Friends,” …but apparently not that close. From what I hear from you readers, most of you agree.
But today we will look at something that is an additional program which is part of the Facebook conglomerate. Facebook Messenger.
In your browser, Messenger is a good chatting app. But on your phone Messenger is an application that really is a do it all communicator.
First of all, it uses your Wi-Fi connection and not your data as your phone does. So if you are out of an area roaming on your phone you do not have to pay for the use of Messenger to communicate.
My latest experience with it goes something like this.
My wife was out of the country with her sister for a while…wow, did I miss her or what? (the wife not the sister) Anyway, I had not heard from her for a while since neither of us likes to spend money; therefore, we did not pay for an add-on to her phone to allow out of country calls. However, she did have Wi-Fi where she was at the time.
I got a call from her on Messenger. Clear as a regular phone call and it was great to hear from her. No time limits, no charges and no problems. After we talked for a while one of us clicked the video icon and boom, we were looking at each other again very clearly as we continued our conversation.
There are several other neat features of Facebook Messenger. One is that you can also send a voice message to the person on the other end. Note that both must have Messenger installed for any of this to work. You can also send pictures and short videos to each other. If a picture is worth a thousand words it is a good way to send a short message with more meaning.
If you so choose, you may also send money to one another using PayPal. However, this is only available in the U.S. and we have never experimented with that particular feature.
Also, if you are going to meet someone or a group somewhere you can send them a map of where you are so they will know exactly where they should meet.
Personally, I think this is a very good app and should be installed on your phones. However, the only warning…you must have a Facebook account for it to function.
