Facebook Messenger News: Chatbots Infiltrate Facebook's Messaging System
Facebook is ready to face the future as it recently announced the new feature that will infiltrate its messaging system: chatbots.
According to the statement made by Vice President of Messaging Products David Marcus on the platform's official newsroom, the Messenger Platform (Beta) will now feature bots that are expected to provide various services such as "automated subscription content like weather and traffic updates, to customized communications like receipts, shipping notifications" and many more.
The revamped messaging platform will also feature the Messenger Send/Receive API that allows for the use of images and interactive bubbles that can be used in daily communication with friends and family. A welcome screen can be placed for threads and discovery tools such as website plugins and Messenger Codes are now available for use.
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According to Wired, Marcus isn't just introducing chatbots for a change or for competition but instead, the messaging chief believes that there is a world without apps in the future. "Everybody wanted websites when the web was launched. And then everybody wanted apps. This is the start of a new era," he said.
For Marcus, Facebook Messenger's bots will start to ignite the fire that will push people to forget downloading various apps in order to avail the various services. The new era will see Messenger's bots having the power to engage in activities such as playing the lottery and shopping using the platform, just like the services offered by WeChat and other messaging applications.
However, The Independent suggests that users might start thinking about the possibilities that the new feature will slowly bring in. There are certain pop-ups that people hate whenever they browse the internet or open an application: ads. The outlet suggests that Facebook might slowly insert small ads as users try out the chatbots.
On the other hand, Facebook will place limits on the authority that chatbots have. Users can always block the bots if they discover that they aren't helpful to communication routines that they are used to.
