Facebook messenger receives new features; over 11,000 bots added

Apart from asking questions, the bots will now offer a list of pre-meditated answers to make the user’s job simpler.

Social media giant Facebook had announced its plan to introduce AI bots to its messenger interface to help businesses interact with their customers seamlessly. Since the launch of the new chatbots for messenger, over 11,000 bots have been added to the site.

According to David Marcus, who leads the company’s Messenger operations, has also pointed out that over 23,000 developers have signed up for company’s Wit.ai's Bot Engine.

The company has also added a slew of new features to the platform; users can now add star ratings and give feedback to developers for the bots they have developed.

Another new feature that has been added is Quick Replies which is comprised of ten different buttons that directly align with the most recent message sent by AI bots on behalf of varied businesses.

This will allow users to easily interact with the AI bots. Apart from asking questions, the bots will now offer a list of pre-meditated answers to make the user’s job simpler.

Second on the list of new features is the persistent navigation menu which will have support for up to five actions, each one eliminating the need to remember text commands. This will help in bot re-engagement and consistency.

The new account linking feature is also a great one for businesses to connect to customers’ accounts, directly utilising their messenger accounts.

“We're launching a secure protocol for businesses to connect their customers' accounts with Messenger accounts, enabling a deeper and more personal experience. People will have to opt in to this experience,” said Marcus.

Lastly, businesses will now be able to send across GIFs, videos and files through bots to people to for a more interactive experience. Additionally, if an user does not want to see the messages of certain bots, they can mute it.

With the introduction of chatbots, Facebook aims to drastically improve the quality of interaction between businesses and users.

(This story originally appeared on Deccan Chronicle)