Facebook Introduces Chatbot and Live Chat APIs In Messenger At F8 Conference
Social networking giant Facebook is getting Facebook Messenger more aptly designed to cater not just purely messaging concerns for personal convenience but also to make it as an efficient communication and management tool for businesses.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Silicon Valley giant is expected to announce a whole lot of enhanced features for commerce in its widely used chat app, the Messenger. Insider reports indicate that chatbot technology will be utilized to streamline business processes and communication such ordering goods and services online.
The event will also marked the second time the Messenger received spotlight at the said conference which suggests that the app is relatively a growing segment within Facebook's increasingly diverse social networking complex.
Why is Facebook keen on adding chatbots and other live chat APIs on Messenger?
Chatbots could be an alternative to 1-800 toll free numbers. According to Tech Crunch, most businesses simply do not have the technological expertise to create chatbots from scratch. What Facebook offers to its business clients is to provide them with chatbots and Live Chat web plug-ins so they can have an automated message response systems to their customers in what is termed as 'Structured Messages' that include a product/service title, picture, description, URL link, and a call to action button like heading to the business' official website, making an e-commerce order, or doing an online restaurant reservation.
There's just a tremendous amount of opportunities for the Messenger as some analysts observe. The mobile messenger app's foray into business has just started last year despite being around for nearly five years now. So far, about two dozen partners including Dutch Airlines and KLM Royal has pretty much integrated Messenger Business to their customer service strategy.
According to latest News Factor roundup, the chat app currently has a 900-million active user base sending more than a billion messages between businesses and individuals.
