Facebook Messenger has 1.2 billion users and is now twice the size of Instagram - Recode

Tangentially, see Snap will report earnings for the first time on May 10 (Recode)

"Messenger on Wednesday announced that it now has 1.2 billion users, more than 700 million more users than it had when it separated Messenger from Facebook back in 2014. Messenger is now the same size as Facebook’s other messaging app, WhatsApp, and massively bigger than most other consumer apps on the market (that aren’t owned by Facebook, of course).

Messenger has evolved a lot as a standalone app; it has added things like payments, chat bots and video calls. Still, the company told Recode this month that it plans to follow in Facebook’s footsteps when it comes to monetizing — Messenger is getting into the advertising game."

Facebook Messenger has 1.2 billion users and is now twice the size of Instagram - Recode