Facebook says Messenger now accounts for big chunk of the world's calls

Facebook has released a bunch of stats on the popularity of its Messenger app.

It seems the social network's decision to take Messenger functionality out of Facebook and make people download it as a separate app has succeeded in terms of boosting usage.

Messenger isn't perfect. AVG has pegged it as one of the top 10 smartphone-draining apps, and from the stats below it seems around half of Android users who've downloaded it are not active users. 

But from the stats below it seems to have a fair bit of momentum (and remember, in 2014 Facebook paid $US19 billion to buy WhatsApp, number two in messaging beyond Messenger).

Apps like Messenger have already destroyed txt revenue for phone companies (any plan over $40 from Spark, Vodafone or 2degrees now includes unlimited txt, and lots of cheaper plans do too). But it's interesting Facebook also says Messenger now accounts for 10% of VoIP calls (or calls made over the internet) globally — a stat Mark Zuckerberg also included on an earnings call. A rep for Facebook NZ couldn't say there that stat was sourced (or provide any local breakouts). Regardless, with the rise of Messenger, and equivalent messaging and calling products from the likes of Apple, Google, Microsoft, telcos are going to become all about selling mobile data.

Facebook's Messenger stats:

1. Messenger was the fastest growing app of 2015 in the US (according to Nielsen)
2. The number of messages sent to businesses on Facebook has doubled in the past year
3. People send more than 9.5 billion photos to friends through Messenger every month
4. Messenger is the second most popular iOS app of all time, behind Facebook. (according to App Annie)
5. On average, more than five million GIFs are sent every day via Messenger
6. Messenger has more than 800 million monthly active users
7. Messenger has been downloaded more than 1 billion times on Android
8. Since the launch of Messenger Platform, a number of Messenger apps have gotten more than a million installs. These include Talking Tom, GIPHY, Sound Clips, and Bitmoji.
9. Across the Facebook family of apps, on average more than 45 billion messages are now sent daily.
10. Two days after launching video calling in Messenger, we crossed the one million call mark.
11. Messenger already accounts for more than 10% of all mobile VoIP calls globally.