Facebook Messenger Adds New Group Chat Experiences

Facebook Messenger has become one of the applications that some people use to keep in touch with friends and family, particularly during the pandemic. Messenger has announced some changes coming to the group messaging feature, making it easier to communicate with groups of people at once. One of the new features is the ability to have cross-app group chats using Messenger and Instagram friends.

With the new update in place, users can start group chats between Instagram and Messenger contacts. Users can also customize these cross-platform group chats using chat themes and custom reactions. Another feature that functions cross-platform is polls allowing groups to decide on anything from where to eat to what movie to watch.

With the cross-platform group chat feature enabled, users still have the same controls over who can reach out to them. In addition, the user has delivery controls determining who shows up in the Chats List and who is sent to the Message Requests folder. Messenger is also talking about new tools allowing customization of chats.

Messenger has launched a new theme called Cottagecore, inspired by a "romanticized pastoral world." Messenger also teamed up with artist J Balvin to celebrate the release of a new album with a chat team inspired by the album artwork. Another customized theme is an available Astrology art suite.

That suite includes an Astrology chat theme, an Astrology AR effect, and sticker pack, with the latter coming soon. Messenger is also talking about some new shared experiences, including a new episode of the Cardi B series "Cardi Tries__" called "Cardi B Tries Latin American Food." Users can watch that episode and other content directly from within the Instagram feed. Users can start a video chat within Instagram, then scroll to the video post they want to share and watch with friends.