Facebook has unveiled the new Facebook Messenger Bot feature. Facebook had been working on creating a chat bot platform to enable Facebook users to chat with their friends and even bots via the chat service on the Facebook site. According to the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, the new Facebook Messenger Bot feature is meant to make it easier for users to be able to interact with a group of people in real time. In an interview on NBC, he said:
"It's not really a chatbot, it's more like a virtual assistant that will get better as you use it,"
The Facebook Messenger Bot can only follow instructions and cannot do anything that the user commands it to do. The difference between a chatbot and a bot is as follows:
– Chatbots are people (not people who can be programmed) who can say things on a message board (or chat service), and a person (programmable) who can "get better" by listening to other conversations.
– The Facebook Messenger Bot works with the same technology that is behind conversational bots (also known as IOT or Internet of Things). It is a computer system that can be programmed to understand language, to respond and to process information. For example, it can ask questions like, "Are you trying to reach a friend?"
Facebook did not talk about the system, but it can be programmed to recognize human users and communicate with them in a non-obtrusive way. It can be programmed to remind you to invite your friends to join the event, or ask questions in order to help the user with various tasks. They can also be programmed to play games or fetch other information.
The Messenger Bot is currently available in the US and Canada only. Although, Zuckerberg said that they are planning to expand the bot to the rest of the world.
In order to participate in the feature, users have to access the Facebook Messenger Website. To get access, the user must first sign up for a free account and then link the account to his Facebook profile.
In order to activate the Messenger Bot, the user must first tell the bot what his or her needs are. The bot will then access the user's list of friends and look for people who need help and are willing to help him/her.
One of the most unique features of the Messenger Bot is its ability to place messages in context. For example, when someone asks for help, the bot can provide a link where the user can go and find answers. When the user knows that he/she has a problem, the bot can also suggest how to solve the problem.
It can even help the user by suggesting the best method of communicating with the person that the user is in communication with. The bot can even suggest new approaches that the user may not have considered before.
This is only one of the new ways that Facebook can make its site more interactive. With additional services such as Messenger Bot, Facebook can further build its knowledge base and broaden its user base.