How to use Slack-like shortcuts in Facebook Messenger

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(Pocket-lint) – Facebook Messenger has been updated with a new feature: Shortcuts.

Slack, a well-known communication tool for teams and businesses, helped popularize shortcuts in chat apps, allowing users to do things like quickly notify everyone in a channel or easily insert a GIF. Now Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is following suit and launching its own shortcuts for Messenger users to take advantage of.

Here’s everything you need to know about shortcuts in Facebook Messenger, including which ones are available and how they work.

What shortcuts can you use in Facebook Messenger?

As of March 28, 2022, Messenger users on iOS and Android can try the following shortcuts:

• @everyone will allow you to notify everyone in a group chat
• /silent will allow you to send a message without pinging the whole group

In “the coming weeks” (probably by May 2022), there will be a handful of other shortcuts available:

• /pay will allow you to send or request money (on iOS and Android in the US)
• /gif and a subject will serve as potential GIFs to send in a chat (on iOS)
• /shrug will drop the emoticon ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (on iOS)
• /tableflip will display the emoticon (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ (on iOS)

How to Use Shortcuts on Facebook Messenger

Do you know how to type “@” and a person’s name will tag that specific person in a Messenger chat? These new shortcuts in Messenger work the same way.

Say you want to grab everyone’s attention, or maybe you want to share a thought without disturbing someone at 3 a.m. This is when you will use the shortcuts @everyone or /silent respectively. Simply open the latest version of the Facebook Messenger app on your iPhone or Android device, enter a group chat or DM, and type a shortcut followed by your message. It’s so easy.

Want to know more?

See Meta’s blog for more details. Pocket-lint also has a guide to Slack if you want to learn more about how it works.

Written by Maggie Tillman.