Facebook Messenger for Windows Officially Launched

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Facebook is going beyond the web and mobile devices. In releasing its official messenger application for Windows 7, the social network brings messaging access to users even outside of the web interface.

Facebook earlier ran a private beta of its desktop-bound application meant for exchanging messages between users. While the Windows application was recently leaked, Facebook responded by officially releasing the Messenger for Windows app.

Downloadable via an Akamai content-distribution link, the app gives users access to three main Facebook features: chat, the ticker feed and notifications. With the standalone application, users need not have a web browser open to receive messages and notifications. What some people might find disturbing, though, is that the Facebook ticker also exists in this interface, giving users persistent updates on their friends’ activity.

Facebook has also hinted that it will soon incorporate new features, such as multi-friend chat, video calling, settings editing, and limiting of chat activity right from the standalone Windows application. The release does not include any version number or history, as the app automatically updates itself (much like Google Chrome). It’s likely that Facebook will be pushing updates quietly as needed, so that users won’t have to deal with downloading periodic updates manually.

Facebook Messenger for Windows will require that a user be logged in to their Facebook account, though, which means that even after you close the web browser, your session will continue, so that the social network can deliver updates and messages. The app works only with Windows 7, and there’s no word whether Facebook will support other Windows versions at this time. Check out the source link for the app download.