Facebook celebrates 1 billion monthly Messenger users

The battle between messaging apps has been going on for a number of years now, but the same names keep floating to the top.

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger regularly feature in the top chat apps, and today Facebook announces that it has hit a key milestone -- one billion users every month. To celebrate, the social network has a little gift to say thanks... but don’t get too excited.

Facebook says: "We're grateful for all the people who are sending billions of messages every day and we hope to send 1 billion thank yous in the form of a new floating balloon gift that everyone can use to celebrate. Just send a balloon emoji to your friends to add a touch of whimsy and delight to any conversation".

As well as the one billion figure, Facebook also has some other interesting stats to share about Messenger usage:

• Angry Birds is the most-download sticker pack.
• 22 million GIFs are sent every day, equal to 254 GIFs per second.
• Red, pink and green are -- apparently -- people's favorite custom conversation colors.
• The hidden basketball game has been played an astonishing 1.2 billion times.
• Soccer has not proved quite as popular -- just 250 million games so far.
• Mother's Day saw 300 million flower stickers sent.
• There were even more Valentines sent -- 360 million.