Late to the dance: Facebook adds video calling to Messenger
NEW YORK — Facebook Messenger accounts for more than 10% of all mobile phone calls made over the Internet globally, the social networking Goliath says. But you couldn't turn those into face-to-face calls via Messenger.
Until now. Facebook is launching a free video-calling feature to its widely used Messenger communication service. It will be made available starting today to Messenger users with iPhones or Android devices in the U.S and 17 other countries, with additional locales promised in the coming months.
Facebook has been trying to make Messenger more attractive in a number of ways lately. In March, it opened up a payments feature that lets folks pay off casual debts to their Messenger friends.
The company is late to the dance when it comes to mobile video calling. The practice is no longer the novel feature it once was, what with Microsoft-owned Skype, Apple's FaceTime, Google's Hangout and other video calling options having been in place now for a number of years.
Being late doesn't make video calling any less welcome to the 600 million people who actively use Messenger on a monthly basis. Facebook's pitch is that you no longer have to leave the Messenger app to see someone from afar. As David Marcus, Facebook vice president for Messaging Products, puts it, Messenger is "where conversations are already happening on a very large scale."
It's certainly simple enough to elevate those conversations from text or voice calls to video. You merely tap a video icon to enter "see me-see-you" mode.
Marcus says Facebook has been at this for a while in trying to get to the right level of quality for video calling, especially in those circumstances when your network connection is spotty.
I got to try out the video-calling feature on a few calls with Facebook employees in the days leading up to launch. I used an iPhone 6 Plus and Google Nexus 6. While it's too soon to come to a definitive conclusion, the quality I experienced was all over the map.
The feature works in a similar fashion to other video-calling services. You can tap to switch from a front camera view to a rear camera view or back. Through a small window that you can drag around the screen, you can see what you look like to the person with whom you're having a conversation. You can pull up blinders while keeping the audio call going if you no longer want to be seen.
The new video feature works on iOS and Android devices so you can be on one or the other mobile operating system and still talk with someone using the other platform. The video-calling feature isn't yet available on Windows Phones.
With a decent Wi-Fi and/or cellular connection, the quality of calls was generally excellent, similar to what I've experienced on FaceTime and Skype. At its best, I was able to switch from Wi-Fi to cellular and hold onto a video call with no discernible loss in quality.
On pokey network connections, the quality was lacking. For example, on at least one occasion the voice and video were a bit out of sync. It was disconcerting hearing audio and having the movement of the person's lips a beat behind. On another call, I could see and hear my conversation partner but she could only hear me without seeing my mug.
And some video calls failed to go through at all.
For now, you can't share your screen or other files when on a video call inside Messenger. Marcus wouldn't reveal anything specific concerning the future road map, but he did say that "video will continue to be an area of investment for us."
Better late than never.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow @edbaig on Twitter