Learn more about DIGITAL MEDIA INSIDER or sign up today to receive the next issue in your inbox. This post originally appeared in DIGITAL MEDIA INSIDER, a daily newsletter on the digital media industry produced by BI Intelligence, a premium research service from Business Insider. The company is opening up its Google app to third-party services so they can provide users with more features while also offering an experience they can’t get anywhere else.The messaging-app era is here. Social networks are old-hat in a world where messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and LINE are increasingly mediating all sorts of digital interactions in our lives. Today’s integration is thus part of a broader push from Google on mobile that isn’t limited to just voice commands. The new functionality was supported by an initial 40 apps, and in April, Google added 70 more partners to the mix. In January, Google updated its main Android app with a big enhancement to Google Now: Serving cards from third-party apps right when they have timely information to provide. Furthermore, the company says it will be working to add more apps and languages “in the future.” as is often the case with new Google features. This functionality is only available in English, but the good news is it’s not limited to the U.S. If either is outdated, you’ll just get an error message or a bunch of search results. To be able to take advantage of this new feature, you do need to update both the Google app for Android and your individual messaging apps. Alternatively, you can just say: “Ok Google, send a Viber message to Josh: let’s do dinner tomorrow night.” If you say, “Ok Google, send a WhatsApp message to Joe,” you’ll get a prompt asking you to dictate your message.

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