You now sign up for Messenger without a Facebook account

Social Networking giant Facebook announced that it is no longer required for Messenger users to have a Facebook account, and has opened it up to the rest of the world.

Previously, it was only available to those in Canada, the United States, Peru, and Venezuela

You can sign up using your phone number if interested, but you can also use your Facebook account.

This means making Messenger more accessible and perhaps more enticing to people who might opt not to download Messenger because they dislike the standalone app.

This could also be beneficial to those in developing countries, where a large percentages of emerging nations have cell phone owners sending and receiving payments on their devices.

Currently, facebook Messenger has a massive audience of monthly active users. In May, the app passed 600 million monthly active users, a gain of 100 million since November when it last released numbers.

Via VB