Facebook Messenger now allows short videos, bigger likes

We really don’t know how far the ubiquitous Facebook is willing to carry its Messenger app, but for now the social networking platform is still churning out updates for its chat and messaging app. In this new update that appeared at the Google Play Store just today, it looks like Messenger app users will now be able to embed short videos into their chat threads, as well as get a “bigger” way to express your Facebook likes.

Embedding video into chat threads was really the logical way to move forward, ever since microblogging giant Twitter launched Vine to be able to do just that. Facebook Messenger now allows users to utilize your device’s camera from right inside the app. There is a camera icon within the app, and users get to tap on it to bring up the camera interface. Users can choose to take videos via the rear camera or a video reaction “selfie” using the front-facing camera. Using it is simplicity personified – tap and hold the send button to start recording, release your hold to send the video. Users need to remember though, that much like Instagram, videos will be restricted to 15 seconds in length only.

Together with this new video embedding is another new feature, but more of a whimsical one rather than a serious technological breakthrough. Facebook’s ubiquitous “like” thumb icon has made the jump to the social network’s messaging threads as well. The probable issue here is that there was no way to express a more emphatic “like” because the thumb icon was really, just the way it is – a thumb icon. But despair no more, Facebook users can now tap and hold on the “like” button within the Messenger app and it will produce a much bigger version of the thumb.

A small caveat to the bigger thumb feature is that it seems to work (and display) only when chatting from mobile to mobile using the Facebook Messenger app. Using the web – as you are normally able to – will not display or allow this functionality. The new update was first available for Facebook Messenger beta test users, it should be rolling out now for all users.

DOWNLOAD: Facebook Messenger at the Google Play Store