WEB DESK: World's leading social network, Facebook has 1.71 billions monthly users as of 2016. The social forum is used mostly by the users to stay connected to their family and friends around the world. 

An application launched by Facebook for its messenger, is thought to be used mainly for the chat purposes. But did you know about the hidden features of the application?

Here are eight hidden features of the application.

1. Create Shortcut of any conversation

f there is a Messenger conversation you want to access quickly, you can create a quick-access shortcut on your home screen. Just long-press on any conversation in the left-hand column to prompt a pop-up menu where you'll find the option to "Create shortcut."

Select that to create a shortcut on your phone's home screen. It's a quick way to make any Messenger conversation a tap away.

2. Video Calls

When taking a photo in a conversation, just hold down the shutter circle in the center of the screen and let go when you're done or until your 15 seconds are up.

This function is available for Android and iPhone, but as of writing doesn't appear to be available for iPads or the Web.

3. Play Basketball

It's not NBA Jam by any means, but Facebook engineers have snuck a hidden little basketball game inside Messenger for mobile (It doesn't appear to work for the Web app).

Just send your friend a basketball emoji, click it, and it opens a little minimalist shooting game that you can play together.

4. Send Money

While Messenger was initially designed as a cross-platform messaging medium for short, IM-like missives, it has expanded to facilitate Internet-based audio and video calls. This function is available from all of Messenger's incarnations.

Just click the little phone or video camera above an individual conversation for either audio or video calls, respectively

6. Check the status of your message

Messenger gives users the power to nickname particular conversations, assign them a color, or even give them their own particular emoji (the one you can supersize that we mentioned earlier).

You access this function differently on different platforms—e.g. in the Android and Web version you hit the little "I" icon, while in the iPad version you click the name at the top of the conversation. Confusing, right? You're a smart and capable Internetter—you'll find it.

8. Scan the code

If you've seen your social media feeds populated with yellow ghost images and felt confused, that's because you're old. The kids are all about the Snapchats now. And one of Snapchat's coolest innovations is allowing people to share direct links to their profile via a personalized image (or code). And now, Messenger has gotten into the pictogram game.

To see/share your Messenger code (only available in mobile), click on the "Me" icon on the right of your main shelf (it's on the bottom of the window on the iPad version, and on the top of the window in Android). Here you'll find your personalized code with your Facebook profile pic in the middle.

If you click that, the pop-up page will present two tabs. The "My Code" tab will present your code for easy scanning, while the "Scan Code" tab will allow you to scan in other people's codes.