Soon, you can add contacts on Messenger without adding them as Facebook friends

The new 'Add contact' request feature will allow Messenger users to add new contacts on the messaging app without adding them in their friend list on Facebook. The new feature will essentially give the Messenger its own independent contact list.

After a bunch of updates and new features from Facebook a few weeks ago, Messenger users may soon see another new feature on the messaging app. Reportedly, Facebook is working on a new 'Add contact' feature on Messenger. The feature, as confirmed by BuzzFeed News, allows users to add new contacts or people on Messenger, without actually adding those people on their Facebook friend list. In essence, with the new feature rolled out, Messenger would have a sort of standalone contact list of itself, independent of a user's friend list on Facebook.

Presently, a user's Facebook Messenger contact list has generally been drawn out of the friend list that the users have on their main Facebook page. However, if you think of the 'Others' inbox, you'd realize that the 'Add Contact' feature has somewhat existed, may be on a slight superficial level, but it has. Even now, when somebody who is not on a user's Facebook friends list, messages them on the Messenger, they are prompted with a request to allow or ignore the conversation with the contact. If the request is declined, then any future messages from that contact goes to the 'Others' inbox, and if it is accepted then it is shown like any other contact on their standard Messenger inbox.

Having said that, the 'Add contact' feature will offer more independence to users of Messenger. The feature is evidently Facebook's attempt at making Messenger a more efficient standalone app in itself. The 'Add contact' option will allow Messenger users to create a separate contact list on the app like on any standalone messaging app like WhatsApp. The latest features comes almost a year after Facebook allowed users who did not have a Facebook account to join Messenger. Users can sign up on Messenger by just using their mobile numbers.

Source : www.bgr.in