Numerous sources recently have pointed out to the fact that Facebook might be working on technology that could revolutionize the customer service sector (via TechCrunch). The company, reports say, is working on chatbots and Live chat APIs for businesses to use and has started providing them to developers.
The social networking giant envisions to replace humans with automated customer services that integrate with its Messenger app. Apparently, the official announcement from the company will come next week at the F8 conference in San Francisco.
Interestingly, Microsoft had also unveiled a similar technological approach during the Build conference a few days ago. The Redmond giant announced Bot Framework so that anyone can build chatbots. Clearly, the targeted customers for this service are enterprises and other business services.
For one thing, the concept of Live chat isn’t new. We’ve seen many websites host similar automated customer care services. Just click on the button to contact a website and you will be redirected to a chat bot that will accept and solve your problems. The innovation here is that Facebook is looking to integrate this tech into its Messenger service. This means, if users opt to contact a website, they will be rerouted to the Messenger app/web service and continue chatting with the business.
The APIs that Facebook is providing businesses will make development of chatbots much simpler. They will no longer have to develop the complex technologies themselves or run around the Internet trying to find someone who can help. Facebook will get you all the help you need.
Facebook has sent presentations to few Messenger chatbot developers, too. These highlight what the company is calling “Structured Messages”. Apparently, these will include a title, an image, a description, a URL and calls to action.
The company hasn’t yet named these services, apparently. But news is that the whole sect of chatbot related faction may go live at F8. The company is taking a similar approach to what it did with ads and Page publishing which will guarantee that the service will be worth the hype.
