Messenger is finally coming back to the Facebook app after 9 years

Messenger will soon reunite with the Facebook app. Buried in a blog post that attempts to reassure users that Facebook’s most definitely not dying, Meta officially announced that it’s conducting a test that adds Messenger back into the Facebook app. “You’ll see us expand this testing soon,” Facebook leader Tom Alison writes in the post. Facebook and Messenger first split in 2014, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating at the time that having Messenger as a separate app allows for “a better experience.” Now, Meta’s reversing that change, and it doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Last June, The Verge’s Alex Heath reported on Meta’s plans to finally bring Messenger back into Facebook, while social media consultant Matt Navarra also spotted Meta testing the feature last December. In its announcement, Facebook also reiterated that it now has more users than ever before. “Contrary to reports otherwise, Facebook is not dead nor dying, but in fact alive and thriving with 2 billion daily active users,” Alison writes. It’s unclear how many of those “daily” Facebook users are those who inadvertently got roped into posting to the platform, however.


TikTok introduces paywalled content, with videos up to 20 minutes’ long

The company has announced a new program, Series, that allows content creators to make collections of videos that are available for purchase. Each collection can have up to 80 videos in it, and clips can be up to 20 minutes long – a length that feels closer to a YouTube vlog than a bite-size TikTok. Creators will be able to set their rates from $1 to $190, and fans can buy access using direct in-video links or from the creator’s profile page. The paywall monetisation model is akin to other creator platforms like Patreon or OnlyFans, but content guidelines on TikTok will remain the same. Paywalls are available to select creators for now, with applications opening up in the coming months. At launch, TikTok will let creators keep all of their revenue, minus processing and app store fees, which likely means losing more than a 30 percent cut. Purchases have to be made through the TikTok app, but creators will be able to use a new Series website to publish videos and track performance.

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