Facebook Plans to Introduce Customer Service Chatbot and Live Chat APIs for iOS Messenger App

Facebook is planning to provide developers with toolkits for customer service chatbots and live chat APIs, according to a few sources that spoke with TechCrunch.

The company will debut the new features at Facebook's F8 conference next week, following in line with a host of recent institutions getting behind chatbot support. Facebook's intentions are to connect its users with businesses via its standalone chat app, Messenger.

The new program will connect those businesses with Facebook-approved chatbot developers, so instead of needing to navigate the construction of complex automated response systems themselves, they can focus on their company while developers create the chatbot software. TechCrunch acquired a presentation by Facebook aimed at chatbot developers, and it described some of the functionality the automated responses might have.

It details how beyond just text chatbots will be able to respond with what it calls “Structured Messages.” These include a title, image, a description, a URL and calls to action such as visiting a website, viewing an e-commerce order or making a restaurant reservation.

To further encourage the universality of Messenger, the social media company is also hard at work on plug-ins for the app that can be installed on a website's contact page. Facebook's idea is that this would eventually take preference over calling or emailing for questions, linking them out directly to the Messenger app on iOS or Messenger.com on the web.

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