Facebook Messenger Surpasses 1 Billion Monthly Active Users

Facebook has announced today Messenger has surpassed one billion active users every month:

Today we are announcing that more than 1 billion people now use Facebook Messenger every month, making Messenger one of only a handful of apps worldwide that touch so many lives.

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The company’s celebratory video reveals 22 million GIFs are sent per day, while 1.2 billion games of basketball were played by users.

To celebrate, Facebook says there’s a new ‘floating balloon gift’ users can use to celebrate. All you have to do is send a balloon emoji to a friend and then watch the magic happen (hasn’t worked for us yet).

Last year, Facebook Messenger was the third fastest growing app according to Nielson data. Facebook made the move to launch Messenger as a standalone app in late 2014, a move CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained was to address the surging popularity of messaging, and to create “a better experience”.

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