Facebook Messenger introduces live chat and bots to websites

Facebook Messenger has recently introduced a plugin that lets visitors of a website engage in live chat with a human or bot without leaving that website.

The plugin is known as Customer Chat. This plugin is one of the major changes announced recently as part of the release of version 2.2 of the Messenger Platform. Other features updated will help to improve the quality of unique messaging experiences and make it easier to build and iterate on the Messenger Platform.

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The announcement was made by Messenger’s head of product Stan Chudnovsky on stage at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.

Few features like ‘Message Us’ buttons or a ‘Send to Messenger’ plugin have already been available for websites on Messenger. However, live chat option with a human or automated bot has been introduced for the first time.

A Bot deployed on a website can be programmed to perform a variety of tasks for corporates, such as delivering order status updates, scheduling an appointment, answering common user questions, and providing automated services during the hours when a business is closed.

Messenger 2.2 also add media template feature, which allows businesses to attach to a call action button when sending videos, images, and gifs, or when sharing content from the web view. The media template also supports FB URLs.

Facebook develops a balanced equilibrium when we talk about updating its various platforms. Just before this major update in Messenger, Facebook has also launched a group video chat app for Android.