Facebook Messenger introduces new features to mark 10th anniversary

The slate of new features focus on the umbrella theme of birthday celebration along with a few more additions that mark Facebook Messenger completing ten years of existence.

The birthday bundle of product features is starting to roll out and will be gradually available to all Facebook Messenger users.

Poll Games

The twist on Polls turns the feature into a 'Most likely to' Poll Game and users can get to know what their friends are most likely to choose or do. For instance, 'most likely to give gifts on their own birthday', 'most likely to fight zombies while everyone else runs away', and 'most likely to miss their flight?'.

Users can also write their own prompts, play a poll game in a group chat, by tapping 'Polls' and selecting the 'Most Likely To' tab to pick a question and select the names of chat participants.

Also Read: Facebook Messenger rolls out Soundmojis & India-specific data on emojis

Birthday Gifting

Facebook users located in the US can now send cash gifs using Facebook Pay, the gift message will be wrapped and accompanied with virtual balloons, once the receiver confirms their Facebook Pay details, the cash gift will be deposited into their bank account. The gifting button appears alongside the friend’s birthday posts in Facebook News Feed or their profile.

Birthday Expression Tools

A Birthday chat theme, 360 background, AR effect, birthday song as Soundmoji, message effect, and a 'Messenger is 10!' sticker pack has been launched to make congratulatory messages on birthdays more expressive.

Share Contacts

Users can now share Facebook contacts with friends through Messenger, by selecting the contact to be shared, access the chat settings, and tap 'Share Contact' under the 'More Actions' section.

Word Effects

Word Effects has not been launched presently, ut will be rolled out in the near future. The update would make words more expressive by triggering an effect related to keywords sent in the message. For instance, a user sending "Happy Birthday!" would trigger the celebratory effect and the receiver will see a blast of confetti when they get the message