Facebook Messenger App Now Displays Basic Info Of Non-Friends Who Chat With You

Consider this scenario: You just got a chat message via the Facebook Messenger mobile app from somebody you are not sure you have met before. Is this person that cute one from Accounting, or worse, a psycho? 

Fortunately for you, the Facebook Messenger app now provides you with some basic information, specifically publicly viewable data, like job title or current location, at the top of message threads from people you have never struck a chat conversation with before. The little piece of information should at least help you remember if this person was that guy from somewhere so that you can proceed to chatting with him or her, or maybe just ignore and not reply. At the very least, you won't have to go through those awkward "Do I know you?" moments. 

This new feature of the Facebook Messenger should already be rolling out on the Android and iOS platforms in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and India.

Interestingly, this feature can also be used with equal effectiveness on your Facebook friends, especially those you have not chatted with in a long time. And depending on the situation, it could either be fun or uncomfortable. For instance, striking up with an old classmate who went on to become a blogger like yourself (with his information provided courtesy of the new Facebook Messenger feature) could be a rewarding experience. 

What is clever about this new feature is that the information displayed are only the data that Facebook users have chosen themselves to be made public. So this means that no privacy protocols have been compromised.

Facebook has been busy lately introducing new features that help its users protect themselves against unwanted chatters or callers. For example, last month, the social media giant launched Hello, a caller ID app that intercepts users' phone calls and then shows information about the caller, letting users have a chance to either take the call or block it.

When used together, the Hello feature and the new Facebook Messenger feature could really help Facebook users better manage who they want to socialize with. It could also be a useful tool for business purposes, especially when you are promoting your business on Facebook, and do not want to deal with a lot of unsolicited spam messages or calls. 

Before, Facebook's only way of warding off messages from non-friends was redirecting them to the Other inbox. But the Other inbox is seldom ever checked by users, and some important messages sent from non-friends who turned out to be important in users' lives can be lost to oblivion. The new feature in Facebook Messenger takes a more proactive and real time interactive approach. It will not stop spammers from trying to reach you anyway, but at least, you won't get ambushed.