Facebook testing 'away message' for mobile phones: Report

Looks like, Facebook has decided to go retro and bring back ‘away messages’. Remember, those quick messages you would type to notify friends that you are away from the keyboard. Facebook is now planning to bring it back in the form of the new ‘sidebar status’ for its mobile apps on iOS and Android, reports TheVerge. By doing so, it plans to spruce up your mobile experience. News has it that the new feature is being tested in Taiwan and Australia, allowing users to set the new ‘sidebar status’ alongside a small photo and also allows to tag a location. This means, the sidebar that appears on swiping right in the Facebook app and shows frequently messaged friends will now also show short status messages under their names. Interestingly, these messages can be accompanied by tiny image icons that the social network has created. These messages will only be seen in the sidebar and not the newsfeed or profile. You get the control to decide who can see these messages from your list of friends. “It’s not quite right to call these “away” messages, of course, because these days we’re never really “away” in the way we were in the era of desktop computing. But sidebar statuses have the same look and feel, and they’re intended for the same audience that away messages were: your closest friends,” adds report. It is also something that Facebook hopes could woo young users. After all, the social site is known to be struggling to attract teenagers. Recently, Facebook was seen sprucing up its **Messenger app** and also has a dedicated web version for the Messenger. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Facebook borrow some features from WhatsApp to further spruce up its Messenger experience.