Sometimes speaking is easier than texting. When you’re driving or don’t want to risk the bitter cold in order to type something, for example. This is a concept that Facebook has recently grasped. The social network has just unveiled voice messaging for Facebook Messenger.
The iOS and Android Facebook Messenger apps now come with an option to add one minute of voice to any message. Further, Facebook has developed something called “social voicemail” that makes it possible to share a voicemail message with a number of Facebook users.
There are various instances when recording a quick one-minute message and sending that message via Messenger will definitely be useful. For those who already use Messenger, the newest addition to the app just makes the whole process a lot simpler. When tested, the voice messaging option was simple to use and quite responsive.
Recording A Facebook Voice Message
At the bottom of your Facebook Messenger app, you will now see a red record button. During any conversation, you can simply tap that record button, record a message, and send that message to any Facebook Messenger friend you have. You can’t record a message that’s longer than one minute, so keep this in mind. At the time of this writing, the new service is not available in Canada, though some tech blogs have reported that Facebook is working on making voice messaging within Canada possible.
As mentioned, Facebook didn’t stop at voice messaging for standalone Messenger apps. The social network has also developed a social voicemail strategy. Essentially, Social Voicemail allows users to record a message and then send that message via voicemail to a few Facebook users. Using this service does require a bit of hands-on time, but it’s a relatively easy new feature to grasp once you get the ball rolling.
VOIP Testing In Canada
Facebook is also working on a new VOIP strategy. Currently, Facebook is testing VOIP calling within Canada, since Canada proves to be a good testing ground. If you do happen to live in Canada and want to check out this feature, look for the small “I” icon at the top of your Messenger screen. You will then see an option to “make a free call.” From there, you can call someone on your Messenger list who lives in Canada (you can’t call other countries right now). This feature also only works with iOS at the time being, sorry Android users.
If the Facebook VOIP messaging feature works out, Facebook will roll out this feature to users across the United States and other countries. Surprisingly, Facebook hasn’t made any of these announcements too public yet. Seemingly, the network wans to wait and see how the features go before making any big announcements.
You can test out VOIP right now (one free call per user) and the Social Voicemail option is currently available too. I presume that Facebook will be notifying all users of these new features as soon as users open up the Messenger app today, but that remains to be seen.