Facebook is giving Messenger bots a massive overhaul
Facebook is making its Messenger bots a lot more useful.
Today, at its F8 developer conference, the company introduced a new type of Messenger bot that allows people to access developers' bots inside of existing conversations on the messaging app.
That may sound like a small change but it could be transformational. Instead of the siloed experiences that force you to open a new message thread each time you want to engage with a company or service, you can now take advantage of the bots inside the conversations you're already having.
These new bots, which Facebook has dubbed Chat Extensions, don't look anything like the clunky and overall pretty terrible bots that Facebook first introduced last year. They look and feel more like an app than an automated chatbot.
Better still, you don't have to actually chat with them. Spotify's extension allows you to share songs inside of chats, for example, while OpenTable's lets you make a reservation.
"The term 'bot' is very developer friendly and not super consumer friendly," Facebook's Messenger chief David Marcus told me. "People don't necessarily know what a bot is or how to interact with a bot. What they want is to interact with Spotify or OpenTable or the NBA or get customer service."
So while Facebook isn't giving up on its conversational bots, the new Chat Extensions enable brands and businesses to create experiences that are much more intuitive and a lot less confusing.
Facebook is also improving the discovery process so it's easier for people to find brands and businesses on Messenger. This will take two forms: a new "discover" tab inside of Messenger and a new feature that allows people to connect with bots by scanning QR codes with Messenger's in-app camera.
Elsewhere, Messenger is getting a bit of an AI refresh. M, the app's automated assistant feature, can now help groups of friends order food (via delivery.com) from within group chats. Eventually, Marcus says, M will be able to point users to Chat Extensions based on their conversations.
Facebook is also introducing a new "Smart Replies" feature for small businesses that allows them to automatically respond to certain types of commonly asked questions, like inquiries about menu items or business hours.
Whether or not all this will enough to make people give Messenger's bots a second look is another matter. Almost all the bots that launched with much fanfare at F8 last year were immediately disappointing.
But that hasn't stopped the company from steadily adding developers to the platform, which now counts thousands of bots. And with improvements to the UI and discoverability, the new bots might actually end up finding someone to talk to.
Topics Facebook
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
