Facebook is adding yet another feature to Messenger, video chat. Used on almost every messaging platform including Hangouts, Skype and FaceTime, Facebook is arriving late to the party, but the integration with the Messenger platform might make up for it.

Video chat has become an essential part of most people's mobile lives, allowing them to speak face-to-face with someone without being right next to them. Services like Viber, WeChat and LINE have all promoted the video chat service heavily, but oddly enough both Facebook and WhatsApp were the two messaging platform not supporting video chat.

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Facebook boasts it has the best audio and video system on the internet, hopefully meaning clearer video chats. Conference calls are still out of the question for now, although we should expect group video calls will be a thing before too long.

To start a video chat, simply click on the recorder button on Messenger. The video looks similar to Apple's FaceTime, where the whole screen is taken over by the other recipients face, with a smaller rectangle for your own face.

Facebook already controls 10 percent of all audio calls on the internet, adding the video chat should make it even more dominant in this area. Still nothing on whether WhatsApp will receive video chat features any time soon, although it did recently add VoIP.

WhatsApp recently reported 800 million active monthly users, still a good chunk higher than Facebook Messenger with 600 million users. The Facebook app has 800 million mobile users and 1.3 billion users worldwide.

The voice chat announcement comes a few weeks after Facebook launched Messenger Platform, a way for third-party developers to add features over-the-top of Messenger. This includes things like integrating news articles, emojis, GIF and other third-party content, instead of delivering it as a link.

Facebook already has over 30 apps running over the top of Messenger, which the user can download for free. Making Messenger a platform is the first move to make the social network more than a place to upload photos of a holiday or mood statuses, offering a wide range of content without the boundaries.

TagsFacebook Messenger, video chat