Facebook Messenger Tops One Billion Users

The growth in Messenger gives greater reach to Facebook to create applications beyond the social network.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Photo: iStock)

• Facebook said on Tuesday the number of users of its Messenger application had topped one billion, a key milestone as it seeks to expand the platform to new services.
  
  
• The growth in Messenger gives greater reach to Facebook, which is moving to create a “family” of applications beyond the social network.
  
  
• Facebook itself has more than 1.6 billion users, and WhatsApp–another messaging application acquired by Facebook for some USD 20 billion in 2014, also counts more than a billion users.
  
  
• Other services in the Facebook “family” include Instagram, which more than 500 million use to share images, and Oculus, which makes virtual reality gear.