Facebook's 'Messenger Chat' Bot Platform: Features

By Ajay Kadkol - 19 Apr '16 07:23AM

Facebook in their developer conference F8 announced that businesses would now be able to start using their messenger platform to buy and sell products along with offering customers support options. Messenger now wants you to chat with businesses and get updates from them directly.
That was what Facebook pitched to the future at their annual conference for software developers in San Francisco. "We think you should message a business just the way you would message a friend," Mark Zuckerberg said on stage at f8.

Zuckerberg laughed and said: "To order flowers on1-800-Flowers, you never have to call 1-800-Flowers again."

Facebook for more than 50 million businesses on Messenger provided the tools needed to build interactive experiences or simply "chat bots" that reach all their user base which the number is estimated to be around 900 million each month. It is now evident that Facebook will find more ways to make money if numerous businesses start using Messenger to chat with customers and sell goods and services. They estimate Messenger and Facebook's other messaging app, WhatsApp, could eventually generate billions in additional annual revenue.

David Marcus who heads Facebook messenger says Facebook is "not very focused on making money on Messenger yet. In the future, if we have enough really awesome experiences between businesses and people, I am sure we will figure out a way to monetize at some point," he said. Chat bots are just robots with the help of interactive software powered by artificial intelligence often secure assist from humans which are intended to simulate human conversation. They pop up on messaging services by using them to perform simple tasks

Starting Tuesday, there will be over a half dozen more bots on Messenger to try, with another dozen or more coming soon, says Marcus. While not yet commonly found in the American and Europe continents, chat bots have zoomed off in Asia with messaging services such as WeChat helping users schedule doctor's appointments, shop for the latest styles, play games or the lottery and send money to friends. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recently began allowing passengers to check in, get flight updates, make travel changes and talk to customer service reps in its Messenger app. Messenger users can also get hold of a new weather forecast through chatting with an animated cat in a yellow raincoat.