In March, Facebook announced its testing the users’ abilities to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app. Back in 2016, Facebook removed messaging capabilities from its mobile web application to push people to the Messenger app, in a move that angered many users.

The change comes as Facebook, and other Meta platforms, are looking to stay competitive with TikTok. Facebook has been moving away from focusing on being an app for close friends and family, and has instead shifting to position itself as a discovery platform. Last June, the social network revamped its “Home” feed to enhance content discovery. At the time, Facebook said the Home feed serves as a discovery engine for users to find new content and creators through algorithmic recommendations.

It’s important for Facebook to make it easier for people to share what they discover on Facebook via messaging, without having to switch to another app. Because TikTok surfaces new content to its users, and also provides a place to discuss it via DMs, Facebook is making similar feature in order to compete with it.

Contrary to popular belief, Facebook is alive and thriving with 2 billion daily active users.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/07/facebooks-latest-test-brings-back-in-app-messaging/