Facebook’s Messenger Platform Hits A Billion Monthly Active Users

Facebook has added the third app with a billion monthly users under its armor. The company’s Messenger platform is its third app to reach the landmark, about two years after being separated from the main app.

It has seen incredible growth this year already, getting to 800 and 900 million monthly active users just this January and April. To commemorate the occasion, it even shared a very eye-catching infographic. Facebook is also celebrating with a special floating balloon animation which appears whenever you send a balloon emoji.

The company currently oversees the sending of 17 billion photos and a billion messages a month. People also send 22 million GIFs and 380 million sticks daily. Lastly, they’ve played 1.2 billion basketball and 250 million of football games that are hidden inside the Messenger app.

In a statement, Messenger’s VP David Marcus thanked users and businesses for the support, and said the target was now the next billion. “We remain focused on helping connect people to the people and businesses who matter most,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who uses Messenger around the world, and we’re looking forward to connecting the next billion.”

The app is also quickly getting to the mark to the level of Facebook’s original app, which currently boasts 1.5 billion monthly users. It is also the second most popular app on iOS. The adding of bots to the app should only aid its growth further.