The Facebook Messenger Platform was launched about two months ago, and already, it’s changed the bot app landscape pretty significantly. In an update that was provided by David Marcus, the Vice President of Messaging Products at Facebook, the platform has attracted a number of brands and businesses. Over 11,000 bots have been launched, and over 23,000 developers have shown interest for Wit.ai’s bot engine.
Because of the ongoing feedback from these developers, Facebook launched a brand new blog for the developers using the Messenger Platform, as well as an update to its Messenger Platform itself. Here’s the features that are offered:
- Ratings: Now, developers are able to be given ratings feedback in the form of a star. This way, they can improve upon their app as needed. These ratings will only be seen by the developers themselves via email, or in the bot dashboard.
- Quick replies: These are up to ten dynamic buttons that align with messages that help with automation of the conversation.
- Persistent menu: Navigation with bots now supports up to five actions, eliminating the need for people to remember text commands and ensuring consistency.
- Account linking: Businesses are able to connect their customers’ accounts with Messenger accounts by opt-in only.
- Content: With this updated version of Messenger Platform, there is support for new content types, such as audio, video, images and files. All multimedia play natively within the app.
- Mute control: Users will be able to mute, bots just like standard conversations with friends.
To see all the information and updated Messenger Platform functionality, go to the Facebook developer hub and check it out.