Facebook Messenger change lets non-friends talk to you
A new change to Facebook's Messenger app makes speaking to strangers easier.
Although it doesn't sound that different, it actually is. The move gets rid of the "posts to page" folder which few users ever noticed and usually became a black hole.
The rollout will be for "Message Requests " which replaces the other inbox which held messages from people who were total strangers, according to a report by Tech Crunch.
Everything else stays the same for Facebook, but users will now see messages from non-friends that used to go to the "other inbox" to Messenger as a message request. They then can choose to accept, ignore or delete. The previous version of posts to page didn't even show up in mobile versions iOS or Android versions of Facebook.
The requestor will also not know if you have read the message, unlike traditional private messages, according to Facebook Messenger head David Marcus.
In a post to his page on Thursday, he wrote:
"Forget phone numbers! Today, we’re excited to start rolling out Message Requests for Messenger. We truly want to make Messenger the place where you can find and privately connect with anyone you need to reach, but only be reached by the people you want to communicate with. Now, the only thing you need to talk to virtually anyone in the world, is their name. As a result of these changes, we’re removing the “Other Folder” that was only accessible from the web, and are enabling you to accept or ignore new requests without the requestor knowing you’ve read their message.
The rule is pretty simple: If you’re friends on Facebook, if you have each other’s contact info in your phone and have these synced, or if you have an existing open thread, the new messages from that sender will be routed to your inbox. Everything else will now be a message request, minus spam attempts that we will continue to ruthlessly combat.
While this may seem like a small change, it's actually a foundational development. Look for more in the months to come as we continue to improve ways to find the people you want to communicate with. And as always, please let us know how we can make this better for you."