Android users

For Android users: Log into FB Messenger with only name, mobile no!

Facebook’s Messenger app for Android just got a a serious new upgrade. Users in India, Indonesia, Venezuela, Australia and South Africa can now sign up for the Messenger service with just their name and mobile number. Previously, to log into Facebook Messenger, you had to use your Facebook account.

Facebook made the announcement on their Newsroom. Read It:

Starting today, you can create a Messenger account with just your name and phone number, and start messaging your mobile contacts.

Just install the app and tap Get Started to reach your contacts faster, start group conversations, share photos and more.

The app will then find your contacts who are using Messenger.

This change should put to rest all rumours of Facebook buying out WhatsApp. But what is evident is that Facebook is hoping to put up Messenger as a serious rival to WhatsApp.

The new Messenger allows users who don’t have a Facebook account to use the Messaging service and this is clearly part of Facebook’s strategy to expand into mobile.

As Facebook’s Q3 results for 2012 showed that mobile ads had finally worked for the site and helped bring in nearly 14 percent of the revenue for the site came from mobile ads. “I want to dispel this myth that Facebook can’t make money on mobile,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a conference call with analysts. “This may (have seemed) true earlier this year because we hadn’t started trying yet.”

Clearly by making Messenger accessible to non-Facebook users on Android, Zuckerberg is sending out a strong message that the mobile arm of the social networking giant is only going to get bigger.