Facebook is making big bets on Messenger being the next big platform for eCommerce, with their Bots for Messenger platform being one of their largest scale business-focused projects (more than 18,000 Messenger Bots are already in operation).
The growth and popularity of messaging apps is undeniable - Facebook says it's currently handling more than 60 billion messages per day, which is 3x what global SMS volume was reaching at peak. Add to that the fact that Messenger and WhatsApp - both owned by Facebook - are both, independently being used by more than a billion users per month, and growing, and it's clear to see that messaging is a key area of focus for users, an important platform in our wider interactive processes and habits.
But a bigger question leading into the next evolution of messaging is whether consumers really want to communicate with brands via message?
To get some insight on this and wider messaging trends, Facebook recently commissioned Nielsen to gather feedback from more than 12,500 people who use mobile messaging apps across 14 markets to provide insight into how and why people message, and how open they are to conducting business via the medium.
The results show that people are, indeed, messaging more, and that the majority (67%) are expecting to use messaging apps to connect with brands in the near future.
The full research data is included in a new Facebook guide book, but they've also built the key points into this infographic.