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Next time you are contacted on Facebook Messenger you will have the opportunity to check whether the message comes from somebody random, a spammer or somebody you know. The app will share public biographical information about people with whom you have not talked before. The information will include clues such as current city, school, job and also the user’s photo. They will appear at the top of message threads even if you are not already friends with that person.
David Marcus, Facebook’s Vice President of Messaging, described this new feature as an “enhanced caller ID for messaging.” The information provided is the same as the one showed in Facebook’s Hello Caller ID app available fort Android. However the “Messenger caller ID” tool will be available for both Android and iOS devices. For now the feature is rolling out only in the US, the UK, France and India.
For example if you receive a message from someone which you are not friends with Messenger will show you that the person is a student at New York University or a florist who lives in Chicago. This can refresh your memory and help you recall if you had met the person before. If you know that you have met the person before it will be easier for you to start a conversation and will avoid awkward introductions. In addition it is also time saving since you won’t have to click through to see the profile of a random person and dismiss important messages received from friends or other persons which are more important to you.
Or if you are posting stuff on an official page and somebody who follows the same page wants to talk to you, the reference will be available to you. So you can easily start a conversation with them and discuss about things which you have in common and which are of interest for you both. Besides preventing you from wasting time by checking the profiles of random people the tool can also increase the possibility that people will respond to potential acquaintances and therefore connect easily with others.
Both the caller ID and the chat ID features prove Facebook’s growing interest in enabling people to connect and offering them the opportunity to get to know other people in your life besides your friends. This can help increasing both new friend connections and one’s professional life as well.
Image Source: Engadget
