Updates To Facebook Messenger Sees Payment Roll Out & Bots Linked To Ads

An update to Facebook Messenger last week saw the service offering easier ways for businesses to build relationships with their customers.

As part of its recent update, Facebook focused on the recently developed chat bots that have started to be integrated into the social media platform over the last few months.

With chat bots, businesses can directly message their customers in real time, letting the bot take over and answer any queries customers may have.

And now, Facebook is integrating bots with adverts, allowing businesses and developers to choose Messenger as a destination for any call-to-action ads they post on the site.

Once a user clicks on one of these ads, a new message thread will open within Facebook Messenger, displaying a welcome screen for the bot.

This will provide “information about the bot, including the category of the associated Page, response time and capabilities provided on Messenger.”

Companies will also be able to choose the demographic their adverts will go out to, and at what time – a good way of optimising their content on the social media platform.

As well as this, Facebook is also offering bot sharing, saying: “We’re enabling seamless sharing of bots and messages from bots to friends on Messenger.

“People can share any message with friends using the standard Messenger share button next to the message. People can also share bots with their friends using a share option in thread details of the bot thread.

“All shared messages will include the bot icon, name and CTA that allows people to start a thread with the associated bot.”

Look of websites in Messenger

Facebook is also giving businesses an easier way of showing customers what they have to offer, with changes to how their websites will appear in Messenger.

Whereas before, links would take users outside of the app, any website links will now be visible within Messenger itself, meaning after users click a link in a conversation, they will remain in Messenger, instead of being moved to a browser.

Facebook is also letting developers tweak how their sites will appear, offering different sizes and heights so customers will be able to scroll and chat simultaneously.

New payment methods

And with this, Facebook is also rolling out new payment methods, which will let users pay for goods all within Messenger, whether this be via in-app links or by messaging the company’s bot.

This feature will be available to select developers in beta, and businesses can now apply through the Messenger developer webpage.

Although perhaps a risky prospect, Facebook has assured that all payment details will be protected with bank level encryption to ensure that all customer data is safe.

Facebook has also said that this latest update includes improvements to quick replies, which will allow for the sharing of location and icons.

The social network is also updating its app level analytics, which can now be downloaded via CSV in app settings, and have stated that it will allow for the re-use of the same attachment on media sends, enabling broadcasting and providing a large improvement in multimedia send times.

To find out more about Facebook’s recent update please click here.