Facebook's Messenger App Reaches 500 Million Users, Company Not Satisfied Yet

reported on Monday that more than 500 million users across the global are using its Messenger app to communicate with each other. Messenger was Facebook's first standalone app and was launched in 2011. In a

Facebook's Director of Product Management Peter Martinazzi wrote "with a half billion people relying on Messenger to communicate and connect, it is also a reminder that there is so much left for us to do." Martinazzi's comments echo those of CEO Mark Zuckerberg who said during the company's third quarter conference call that the company hopes to “connect billions of people” through Messenger and other standalone apps including Instagram. Zuckerberg also stated during the conference call that the company's priority is reaching the one billion user mark before “very aggressively turning them into businesses.” Shares were down 0.75 percent at $75.02.