Facebook kills ‘Other’ Inbox folder and introduces Message Requests

Facebook has now introduced Message Requests for Messenger which will basically replace the ‘Other’ folder in the app which houses messages received from strangers. Messages received in this folder will generate an alert on the Messages tab on the web along with mobile devices as well. The service is said to roll out in the next couple of days.

According to a post by Facebook’s David Marcus, “If you’re friends on Facebook, if you have each other’s contact info in your phone and have these synced, or if you have an existing open thread, the new messages from that sender will be routed to your inbox. Everything else will now be a message request, minus spam attempts that we will continue to ruthlessly combat.”

If you head to the company’s Help Center, Facebook offers an idea of message requests works as well. TechCrunch notes that, messages from friends-of-friends will now be treated simply as a request. Facebook will no longer bet that having a friend in common means you care to talk to someone.

The new service can also make Facebook, a way to commute with contractors, short-term business colleagues or anyone else who would wish to chat with the person, but did not want to be friends or share their numbers for that matter.