Facebook Messenger now lets you scan your friends

In a bid to make itself more ubiquitous and user-friendly—as well as to egg out Snapchat and other rivals in the mobile messaging space—Facebook Messenger on Friday rolled out new features including custom usernames, links, and "Messenger Codes".

Facebook Messenger Codes are circular graphic designs that are unique for each user and which work just like QR codes or supermarket bar codes.

"Messenger Codes let you just pull out your phone and scan someone else's code. Messenger then starts a conversation with them. No more misspelled names or mistyped phone numbers," Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post early Friday.

However, The Next Web was quick to notice that Messenger Codes was a bit too much like Snapchat for comfort. 

"Facebook just stole Snapchat's best feature," The Next Web notes.

"Avid Snapchat users will recognize this rather familiar profile feature – as it’s already incredibly popular with its users," it added.

Meanwhile, The Verge noted that the new features signal Facebook's serious foray into mobile messaging as a serious medium for personal as well as professional communication.

"It's important to look ahead to where Facebook wants Messenger to be by the end of the year. Messenger is no longer just a place where you chat with your friends," notes The Verge.

"it'll soon be a place where you can chat with companies and customer service bots, and have useful information sent to you. When you consider all of that, Messenger Codes make a lot more sense," it added.

Facebook claims that Messenger already hit 900 million users this April.

— GMA News