The F8 conference is the platform Facebook has been using for a while now to showcase new features on their apps. Messenger is one of their main apps and last year, it was updated with several new features, among which includes a platform for developers to create bots.
Well, the F8 conference started yesterday and with it, Facebook announced changes to the Messenger platform which include the following:
Discover tab
Facebook has incorporated a Discover tab within Messenger that will make it easy for people to find businesses. This will allow people to find things like bots made by businesses so that you can engage with them. This will be rolling out to a few people in the US.
Chat extensions
Now with Chat extensions, businesses will be able to chat with multiple people at the same time. You will be able to add a bot directly on the thread which Facebook hopes it would be a way to virally share bots.
M gets more features
Remember Facebook M? It is Messenger’s AI concierge and now it has been given new features. It will now give suggestions in your conversations. Since it is an AI powered system, it will recognize what you are doing and will provide helpful suggestions. In US, it will offer the ability to order food through delivery.com and the whole experience can be completed within Messenger.
Rich Gameplay
Facebook has added features like game bots and Rich gameplay which will make gaming even more fun on Messenger. Rich Gameplay in this case is turn by turn games that we’ve been playing on other platforms for a while now. According to the company, over 1.5 billion games have been played in the last 3 months, so this is a popular activity on Messenger.
Discovering the world using Messenger codes
The new “parametric” Messenger codes will allow people to find more from a bot on Messenger by just scanning the code using Messenger camera.
Smart Replies for Pages
Facebook also launched the ability for Pages to frequently asked questions like contact details, business hours or directions using AI. This is powered by Facebook’s AI bot engine, Wit.ai
Hand-over Protocol
Facebook has provided a way for businesses to work with multiple developers for different experiences on Messenger. Example a business might want a shopping bot and a customer service bot and this will allow vendors to manage the conversation for the use case of the customer.
