Messenger Platform

Private messaging is social’s next big ad frontier and talk of Facebook opening its Messenger app to brands has been circling for more than a year.

One of the biggest announcements at the F8 conference was the beta launch of Messenger Platform, which allows third parties to develop bots that interact with Messenger’s 900m users. 

According to David Marcus, Facebook’s VP of Messaging Products…

Bots can provide anything from automated subscription content like weather and traffic updates, to customized communications like receipts, shipping notifications, and live automated messages all by interacting directly with the people who want to get them.

Facebook has created a number of discovery tools to help users find bots that may be of interest to them, and users will have the ability to block communications that are unwanted.

Facebook says it has established strict review and oversight policies to ensure that brands don’t abuse its Messenger Platform.

Facebook Live API

Livestreaming is the subject of a lot of buzz today, and Facebook believes that it’s a meaningful trend.

The social network is pushing to be a livestreaming leader, so it’s no surprise that Facebook has built a Live API, which it unveiled at F8.

Thanks to the Live API, publishers wanting to broadcast directly to Facebook can work with Facebook’s Media Solutions partners, and access advanced capabilities, such as the ability to mix multiple video and audio sources and to combine the Live API with Facebook’s Graph API to access live video comments, reactions, and mentions in real-time.

According to Facebook, “You can use this information to reflect viewer engagement in real time and create on-screen graphics that show live poll results, analyze comments, and enable comment moderation.”

The Live API will also allow hardware manufacturers to integrate with Facebook Live.

Already, a number of camera manufacturers have taken advantage of this, and drone manufacturer DJI has integrated its GO app with Facebook’s Live API so that drone pilots can stream their flights.

Account Kit

Use of social login has grown significantly in recent years and Facebook is aiming to make it even easier for consumers to access third-party apps with Account Kit, a new tool that allows individuals to sign in with just a phone number or email address, even if they don’t have a Facebook account.

Account Kit gives app owners the ability to customize UI and access analytics.

Facebook also offers a backup notification option for users of its social network, which it says can help conversions…

If a person chooses to sign into your app using their phone number, but doesn’t receive an SMS, but does have a Facebook account, they can choose to receive a Facebook notification to complete the login process.

We built this backup option to help increase your conversion rate by making sure people have more ways to log in if needed.

According to Facebook, music streaming app Saavn saw its daily signups grow by 33% within two months of adopting Account Kit. 

New Sharing Tools

Facebook is fighting “context collapse” and to encourage more sharing, the company released a number of new sharing tools at F8.

These include:

  • Quote Sharing, which allows Facebook users to more easily share quotes they like from websites and apps.
  • Hashtag Sharing, which gives users the ability to add a hashtag to content they share from apps.
  • A Save Button that extends Facebook’s Save functionality to third-party sites that integrate it.

Additionally, Facebook has released Sharing Insights and an improved Sharing Debugger to help publishers better track sharing activity and manage their sharing integrations.

Rights Manager

Facebook’s rise as an online video powerhouse is a double-edged sword for content owners which are increasingly grappling with copyright infringment issues on the world’s largest social network.

In an effort to address this, Facebook created Rights Manager, an online tool that gives content owners the ability to upload a reference library of their content, along with associated rules, so that possible violations can be identified and reported more efficiently.

Content owners can apply for access to Rights Manager. Currently, Facebook says it is providing access based on need.