Facebook Inc. (FB) Has Reply to Competing Chat App, Line?

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), believe it or not, hasn’t established a platform to produce threaded conversations and back-and-forth between users on certain popular or controversial posts. Chances are, you might have seen this threading on other sites that use Facebook’s comment platform (like certain media news sites, for example), yet it is not in place on native Facebook pages.

And now, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) seems to be nearing some new competition in communication with others around the world, as Japan-based chat app Line is looking to expand into the United States. What might be the challenge? With Facebook seeing a lot of scrutiny over privacy concerns and an ongoing trend on other sites where users are seeking some privacy in communications – rather than always getting their messages scanned for advertising or marketing purposes – this new app just might be something to watch for socially minded users.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is about to release a conversation-threading feature called Replies on a limited  scale, mainly on the most popular profiles and Pages (10,000 or more followers or “friends”) and on an opt-in basis, with plans to perhaps roll the feature out to the entire social network by mid-July. This is expected to make back-and-forth engagement of users over posts and related comments – which may improve engagement among users.

But for those who want more private engagement and conversations, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has its Messenger app, but even that seems to be facing some new competition. Line is described as a private chat and instant-messaging app that works on mobile devices – and at least a this point, there is no indication that the service compiles data on users based on their conversations or profiles. The app has reached 100 million user mark just in Asia – three times faster than Facebook needed to reach 100 million users.

What do you think about Replies by Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), and do you think Facebook should be watching Line closely as a potential engagement threat on mobile devices? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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