Facebook to put ads in Messenger

Facebook is looking to make money off Messenger. The tech giant is planning to add advertisements within its popular stand-alone instant messaging app. Ads already play a prominent role in bringing in revenue for the tech giant through its other equally popular social media app Instagram.

Facebook has a history of connecting its users to various brands to increase and promote its advertisements. A recent leaked document reveals that the tech giant will soon roll-out ads within Messenger, according to a report by TechCrunch. The move reflects Facebook's intentions to push Messenger to the forefront of business-consumer interaction.

There is no indication yet on when Facebook intends to begin rolling out ads on Messenger. However, there is some speculation about a possible announcement from the tech firm at the F8 developer conference in April.

Although Facebook has refused to comment on the matter, a spokesperson said: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation. That said, our aim with Messenger is to create a high quality, engaging experience for 800 million people around the world, and that includes ensuring people do not experience unwanted messages of any type."

The statement indicates that despite the desire to make Messenger the primary source of interaction between customers and businesses, the tech firm will likely proceed cautiously when rolling out this particular feature to ensure that it does not alienate its users by placing unsolicited ads. Users will only see ads from specific brands or business once they have themselves initiated a conversation, according to the report.

Facebook has been working on monetising Messenger for quite some time now. The social media giant confirmed that it has already discreetly launched a private user-business chat thread, which instantly opens up a private chat link with a business. In August 2015, Facebook launched Pages Messaging, its first step toward establishing a direct communication link between users and businesses. Although the Pages Messaging feature was directed more toward making communication simpler for businesses, Facebook's new feature seems to be more focused on increasing user involvement with businesses.