Facebook Messenger Reaches 1 Billion Users Messenger has reached a milestone only a few apps in the world have hit.
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Facebook has been adding new features to Messenger left and right, and it looks like efforts to beef up the app and push people to use it are paying off in a huge way.
The social network on Wednesday announced Messenger has reached 1 billion monthly active users (MAUs). Facebook itself hit that goal in 2012 while WhatsApp joined the 1 billion MAUs club earlier this year.
"People use Messenger to connect with the people and businesses they care most about. They make plans, share dreams, send payments, tell jokes, play games, let their loved ones know they're thinking of them and much, much more," Facebook wrote in a blog post celebrating the achievement. "We're grateful for all the people who are sending billions of messages every day."
Along with all those messages, people are now sending some 22 million GIFs via Messenger every day. To put that in perspective, it breaks down to 254 GIFs per second.
It turns out Messenger users also really like the app's gaming features. People have collectively played 1.2 billion games of basketball and 250 million games of soccer inside Messenger.
Meanwhile, users sent 300 million flower stickers on Mother's Day and 360 million Valentines. But out of all the sticker packs available in Messenger, Angry Birds have been the most popular, Facebook said.
"We know that every message is important to you -- no matter what you want to say -- and our team is committed to building experiences you love and to making all the interactions in your life easier no matter who you are communicating with," Facebook wrote.
