Facebook begins integration of Instagram and Facebook Messenger chats in new update

In a new development in the social networking world, Facebook seems to have begun implementing a cross-messaging feature in its messenger by integrating it with Instagram's in-app messaging system. On Friday, Instagram floated an update integrating the messaging feature on Instagram with that of messenger on Facebook. The changes include a colourful look for chats, emoji reactions, swipe to reply to messages and chat with Facebook friends.

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This new feature and update seemingly come in view of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's statement of last year saying that the company is planning to merge Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. This update could well be an initiation of the plan announced by Zuckerberg last year. 

After the update, Instagram users would be able to chat directly with their Facebook friends from Instagram without needing to switch platforms. After the change, the DM icon on Instagram will be changed to Facebook's Messenger icon. The new feature would also let you change colours for different chats on the app. The apps will continue to be accessed as separate standalone apps, but with an integrated messaging feature across Facebook and Instagram, and the feature may bring in connectivity with Whatsapp as well in the future, all owned and controlled by Facebook.

However, there is no official announcement from Facebook on the new update and not all the users seem to have received the update, so this could well be a beta phase with testing the update on select few.

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