While this was already anticipated by the developer community, Facebook gave out the final confirmations during its F8 conference today, announcing the launch of Messenger as a Platform.
With Messenger now acting as a platform in itself, this will allows some 600 Million Facebook users to use third party tools and service on Messenger. Facebook also announced that it will also be offering its users, direct communication to businesses which have currently registered with Messenger or have a made a third-part service to be integrated with the same. The feature though isn’t new in itself, considering Line, which started offering a similar service quite some time back.
Currently, the Messenger platform is embedded with more than 40 new apps, through which people can enhance their conversations with GIFs, photos, videos, audio clips and more. Facebook has also expanded the composer so that people can discover creative new apps to enhance their Messenger experience.
Initial partners for Facebook’s messenger platform include ESPN, Stickered, Bitmoji, Ditty, Fotor, Sound Clips, Giphy, FlipLip, ClipDis, Memes and many more.
Through Messenger, you will now be able to share third-party messenger apps among your friends with a single tap, and open them without disrupting your conversation. If a friend sends a message from a Messenger Platform app, you can simple tap the reply button to easily switch to the app to find the right response.
Facebook has also released an SDK fro developers to start building for the Messenger platform. If you are a developer, you can know more about developing apps for Messenger by reading Facebook’s developer blogpost.
