Advertisements might be coming to Facebook Messenger

WhatsApp may be popular, but Facebook doesn’t make any money from it, mainly because it’s a standard messaging app and nothing else. Facebook Messenger, on the other hand, has the potential to make tons of money because it emulates billion dollar Asian messaging apps like Line and WeChat. Not only does it allow users to buy stickers and use third-party services from within the app, TechCrunch acquired some leaked Facebook documents on Thursday, which suggest that the company is planning to add advertisements to Messenger in the near future.

Although countless chat applications have attempted to upend standard text messaging in the United States, only the Facebook Messenger app has a major impact on the way we interact we our friends and family members. There have been a few visual overhauls and plenty of added features since the app launched in 2011, but the most significant change of all looks to be right around the corner: ads are coming to Messenger. This week, TechCrunch got a hold of a leaked document that Facebook sent to advertisers revealing that it would be launching ads in Messenger in Q2 2016. When the update arrives, businesses will be able to send ads to users who have messaged them in the past. Therefore, Facebook is recommending that businesses start getting fans to send them messages now, before the feature launches in the coming months. Further validation of the document came in the form of new URL short link fb.com/msg, which allows users to instantly open a chat with a business without having to navigate through the Facebook News Feed. So, for example, fb.com/msg/nike will instantly begin a conversation with the Nike brand, opening the user up for ads in the future.