Messenger Updates At F8! Let’s See What Happened With Bots.
It’s pretty exciting to hear about what happened at F8 with bots. Facebook announced that 1.2 billion users are now using Messenger. Also, over 100,000 bots are built by developers.
David Marcus, VP of Messaging Products for Facebook said, ‘’The reason we come to work every day is the people using Messenger.’’
Last year, Facebook announced bots on the Messenger platform, and since last year, the bot ecosystem has grown rapidly. David Marcus mentioned that the team has built in major updates since last year such as menus & quick replies, webviews & payments, entry points, templates, and persistent menu & sharing.
Marcus mentioned that many brands are using Messenger for raising awareness, acquiring customers, providing better customer service, enabling commerce & transactions, and financial services, and he says the results are fascinating. Also, he pointed out that brands using Messenger have better communication with their customers. In order to do that, he mentioned:
‘’You will see lift if you build the right experience’’
David Marcus thanked the developers of bot ecosystem and added:
“None of this would be possible if it wasn’t for the kickass developers that has formed an unbelievable ecosystem around Messenger last 12 months.”
With the developers help, Messenger doubled the number of messages to 2 billion per month.
Messenger Platform 2.0
As of now, the team announced that they are focusing on some major updates and releasing them soon.
Discovery
Since last year, bot discovery was a huge question for all bot makers and users. Messenger announced that as of now, the discovery tab will be visible and bots can be explored more easily.
Messenger Codes
Similar to QR codes, Messenger codes will make businesses easier to be found on Messenger and help connect with their customers.
Chat Extensions
This new feature allows people to bring a bot into a conversation and collaborate on creating shopping lists, ordering food, splitting payments, sharing music, and other new and existing use cases.
Smart Replies
Businesses can have smart replies to respond to frequently asked questions with the power of the Wit.ai bot engine.
M Suggestions and AI
With this update, Messenger gets smarter. It recognizes if you’re with your friend and suggest placing an order with delivery.com partnership.
Hand Over Protocol
Businesses can pass the control to any other developer or vendor to create experiences within a single bot.
You can read all the details on Messenger blog. Also, you can follow our Botanalytics Facebook and Twitter channels to learn more about F8.
At Botanalytics, we help your bot be awesome by providing conversational analytics. We’d be happy to boost your bot’s performance. Sign up for free to enjoy our rocking features!