Facebook Messenger Gains New Slack-Style Shortcuts Command System - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Facebook Messenger Gains New Slack-Style Shortcuts Command System

Meta (aka Facebook) today announced the introduction of Messenger "shortcuts," a new Slack-style command system that allows users to speed up communication and get messages to their intended recipients.
Everyone Shortcut

Building on the @username tagging method to direct a message to a specific person in a chat, the new system introduces @everyone for grabbing everyone's attention in a group chat, and /silent to send a message to members of a chat without them being immediately notified about it during their off hours.
Silent Shortcut

Messenger is also gaining additional shortcuts over the next few weeks that aim to be both practical and fun, such as /Pay to send and receive money within one-on-one Messenger chats (U.S only) and /gif to easily find and send GIFs. Users need only type /gif and then their chosen topic to see GIF options appear.
Pay Shortcut

Lastly, Messenger on iOS is soon to support /shrug and /tableflip to more easily convey the old-school text-based emoticons ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻. Meta says these are just the first of many more shortcuts coming to Messenger later this year.

Popular Stories

Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple Says CarPlay Ultra is Coming to These Vehicle Brands

Thursday May 21, 2026 11:53 am PDT by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. CarPlay Ultra...
Apple Event Logo

Apple to Release These 15 New Products Later This Year

Friday May 22, 2026 6:36 am PDT by
April and May have been relatively slow months for Apple this year, but there is a lot to look forward to heading into WWDC 2026 and beyond. Apple is expected to release at least 15 more products later this year, with some of them held up until the more personalized version of Siri launches. Beyond the usual annual updates to iPhones and Apple Watches in September, Apple's all-new smart...
MacBook Pro Low Angle Wide Lens 2

MacBook Pro OLED Display Production Clears Key Hurdle

Thursday May 21, 2026 1:41 am PDT by
Apple's first OLED MacBook Pro models have cleared a major manufacturing hurdle, with panel supplier Samsung Display having reportedly achieved yields above 90 percent on its Gen 8.6 OLED production line. According to Korean publication The Elec, some individual process stages are now reaching yields as high as 95 percent, a level that the display industry considers "golden yield" territory ...

Top Rated Comments

randolorian Avatar
54 months ago
Friends don't let friends use Facebook Messenger.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
larrylaffer Avatar
54 months ago
$30 per person for pizza? Where are these people eating??
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
54 months ago
Ah - all these kids that don't know that all of this originated in IRC 25 years ago. Slack is literally just IRC that is tied to a paid service...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TwoBytes Avatar
54 months ago
WhatsApp feels so far behind Messenger.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Frantisekj Avatar
54 months ago
It could have holographic gold fountain and still no go for any fakebook s... on my phone..
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
54 months ago

Everyone is now getting trained to be a software developer
Yes, the Linuxheads who think that everyone should do everything using the command line.

Unfortunately, Apple is not immune to this phenomenon:

https://eclecticlight.co/2016/09/29/welcome-to-macos-sierras-new-console-its-buried-in-terminal/

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/23/network-utility-deprecated-macos-big-sur/
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)