Facebook is testing a new feature for Messenger that allows users to message others without connecting to them. Messenger uses can connect to each other but without giving adding them as friends.
Facebook Messenger users will be able to send messages to users without connecting
This is possible even now, albeit in a slightly different form. When a user that is not part of the friend’s list sends a message to another person, his message would only appear after the recipient accepts the message request. The other option is to ignore any future messages, essentially blocking communication. If the messages are not accepted, they will appear in the “other” inbox.
The new feature will allow the same functionality through the contacts page. Once a contact is added, the users may message him freely without adding him to the friend’s list. This makes Messenger a more useful platform for company profiles and other types of users where officials can share information without adding their customers as friends.
However, everyone must consider the security implications. Phishing attempts are now becoming more common among the social media platform, and Facebook is one of the most popular networks that have counterfeit profiles. Messenger is a feature rich application that allows rich media, attachments and links to be sent out to recipients.
If the users befriend a fake profile through this feature, it would be easy for the malicious users to send out spam messages or links to malware. As the new additions are still under development, experts cannot yet judge how popular this would be with the Facebook users.
In any case, this appears to be yet another attempt at the social network to introduce features making the platform more popular. Time will tell if this option will be exploited by malicious users.
