Facebook Messenger Announces The Global Launch Of A New Powerful Native Camera Just In Time For The Holidays

Today we are excited to launch a brand new, faster and easier to use camera with art and special effects to help make your conversations better than ever. Rolling out globally over the coming days, we hope you'll be as happy as we are with the new experience in your favorite messaging app. We've seen that the way people are messaging is becoming much more visual. In fact, over 2.5 billion emojis, photos, stickers and videos are sent every day on Messenger.

In some ways the camera is now replacing the keyboard. As more people use Messenger in their every day lives, we wanted to make it faster, simpler, and more fun to send photos and videos— so we built the new Messenger Camera.

What's New?
It's even quicker and easier to capture and share moments as they happen. Imagine the Messenger camera as a powerful new tool that lives just behind your inbox. It's always one tap away— whether you're already in a conversation or have just opened up the app. You will see the shutter button center in the screen (we've dressed it up for the Holidays!) a tap takes photo, a long press records a video.

We're also introducing a place to find new art and special effects. We are especially excited to debut 3D masks and special effects, which make it super easy to apply an artistic filter to your full screen photo and to turn your world into a work of art. Try them out - you can take a selfie and transform into a reindeer or play with falling snow or even just ask someone how they are doing - it's the perfect way to spread a little happiness in your messages.

We've also added thousands of stickers, frames, masks, and effects to choose from too - and you can personalize exactly how you use it. We've worked with artists and influencers all over the world and these artists have added their own touch to the customization tools you can now use in Messenger.

And there's more! Unique to Messenger we've also created a place where you can make your text messages even more fun. Check out the palette icon by the shutter and it will take you to a blank canvas where you can add art and stickers to your text. We're making it super easy to add more delight to the conversations you're having about what you're doing, how you're feeling, and the plans you are making.

Of course, if you just want to send a message with only text, you can still do that too. All of the features that you know and love in Messenger are just the same. We can't wait to hear your thoughts about our new Messenger Camera!

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About Facebook
Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. Facebook has 1.04 billion daily active users on average worldwide and 7.2 million daily visitors from Nigeria.

About Red Media Africa
Red Media Africa ( www.redmediaafrica.com ) is the PR & Empowerment Marketing division under the parent brand, RED.

It focuses on using inspiration, empowerment and action to help brands and organisations connect with their audiences, enhance their bottom-lines and lead in their industries. It has 6 major practice areas: Corporate Practice, Technology Practice, SME Practice, Governance Practice, Faith Practice and the International Practice - with work for brands across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. RED owns the continent's largest portfolio of youth media brands. Its Content Division holds brands across TV, radio, online and events including Y! Magazine,YNaija.com, Rubbin' Minds, #YTech100 and the The RED Summit. It also anchors a development firm, The Future Project, which projects include Africa's leading youth platform, The Future Awards Africa, HowCanIGetInvolved.com and Aiki.ng, which is run in conjunction with Microsoft.‎