The invention of text messages was one that forever changed the way we communicate with each other. It allowed people the ability to get to their point without having a full on conversation. Then came Skype and FaceTime. These two incredible platforms changed the game as well. They allowed people to practically be with the other person with the inclusion of video. But now, Facebook has all of it.
Facebook has dominated social media for the past couple of years. There was a point in time where it looked like it was somewhat "old news" and Twitter was going to take its place, but somehow, someway, it retained its spot at the top. There are just some aspects that are hard to replace, but now, since all social media platforms are in some way, shape or form trying to copy each other, Facebook has always been one step ahead and had a pretty good version of whatever the next thing was.
Facebook has a general app that you can download for free. They have their own messaging app now, which allows users to see when the other person has seen their message and when the other person has responded— a sought after feature that Androids typically lack. This was huge for Android users because now they could message other Android users and iPhone users and have the same privileges as people that use iMessage. But there are people who have iPhones and still primarily use the Facebook messenger app.
You can call off of the app just like you would through your phone company, but instead of using cellular connection it uses the internet. Although the connectivity is not nearly as strong or reliable as using your phone to make calls, it still gets the job done for the most part. What is kind of amazing is that some people will have a cellular plan with unlimited talk and still call people over Facebook, which heavily uses data. Most cellular plans don't have unlimited data, so when people are primarily using Facebook to make calls it costs more money than making a regular call and sometimes is not as reliable.
The Facebook Messenger app also has a video messenger just like FaceTime and Skype. This app isn't as good as FaceTime, but the quality seems to be getting better depending on your connection. As of right now, the video calls, dependent on where you are and your connection, can be seen as low quality, pixelated images with distorted sound. Followed by a never ending loading sign that never seems to reconnect with the call.
Facebook and Snapchat both have these features and they are being used more frequently than ever before. On the other hand, it is free with wifi to make calls off of Facebook, but, if you are using limited dated the price can definitely rack up.
