Facebook Adding a Caller ID Feature to Messenger

The call is coming from <i>inside the social network</i>!

If the recent debut of Messenger.com didn’t make it clear enough, Facebook is really pushing their messenger as <i>the</i> way to contact people online. And now, to make it even more appealing, they’re adding a Caller ID feature that will display information about people trying to contact you.

It looks like the new feature is only available on the iOS and Android versions of Messenger – for now, at least – and only in the US, UK, France, and India. When someone contacts you, the screen will display a blown up photo as well as some information about the job and location of the person messaging you, as well as some of your mutual friends.

If the person has some of their information set to private, it will only display the information they’ve chosen to display on their profile.

Given that no method of online communication is safe from spammers and scammers, it’s good to have this extra level of security. Granted, if their profile is locked down tight, this feature won’t do you much good. I almost think that if someone with a private profile messages someone else, some of that information that normally isn’t publically available should be shown anyway. After all, it’s their choice to send a message, and it’s safer and simple common courtesy to disclose at least a little bit about who you are if you’re hoping to start a dialogue online.

Then again, I can be comically paranoid, so maybe I’m biased.