Facebook thinks we'll soon see the end of phone numbers

With Facebook Messenger surpassing 800 million users every month, the company believes that we may see the end of the traditional phone number.

In a blog post, VP of Messaging Products, David Marcus, wrote about some of the themes for Messenger in 2016. One of these was the disappearance of the phone number. He said that SMS and texting came about with the flip phone, but now we have computers in our pockets.

"Just like the flip phone is disappearing, old communication styles are disappearing too. With Messenger, we offer all the things that made texting so popular, but also so much more. Yes, you can send text messages, but you can also send stickers, photos, videos, voice clips, GIFs, your location, and money to people," he wrote.

Ironically, in the same paragraph he mentioned that you don't even need a Facebook account to use Messenger. But in that instance, you do need a phone number.

It's unlikely that we'll see the end of phone numbers any time soon. While they may not be as prevalent for texting and phone calls any more, they are being used in different ways, including 2-step security.