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When Facebook decided that it was going to disable the chat feature on its main mobile app to promote Messenger, many people complained. Eventually, though, users came to accept the arrangement and move on. Facebook is doing this again in the form of a new messaging app for Instagram called “Direct,” and it’s using many of the same methods as it did with Messenger.
Facebook-owned Instagram is now testing the messaging service, which is intended to be used for private conversations. In the main app, users get inboxes where personal messages are sent. Once Direct is downloaded and installed, however, that feature disappears and messaging will need to be done on the new app, The Verge reports.
This is the same thing that Facebook did when it introduced Messenger. By essentially preventing users from chatting with each other on the main app, they were forced to download an entirely different app. At that point, Facebook could claim to have additional users on a platform that can be considered separate from the main one.
For now, the feature is only available in a handful of countries, including Chile, Italy, and Israel. If the test is successful and the app launches globally, Facebook would have yet another massively popular messaging app other than Messenger and WhatsApp.
As to what makes Facebook think that it can get away with this, Quartz notes that it’s because it has already done this before with Messenger. Instagram might have fewer users compared to the main Facebook platform, but it’s still incredibly popular. As such, anyone who wants to remain connected with their friends or followers will need to download Direct whether they like it or not.
This would be the finale to Facebook’s strategy of cloning everything that made Snapchat popular. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has already copied as much as it can from the youth-favorite app. Direct basically opens the camera in the same way that Snapchat does, which effectively encourages the users to always share with their friends.
