Facebook is reportedly extending the functionality of its very popular Messenger app by allowing some developers to make their own “bots” for shopping, booking travel and more online.
TechCrunch reports that Facebook has handed some developers access to a Chat SDK for making these bots, according to “sources with direct knowledge of the SDK”. These bots could automatically respond to users’ messages with images, product prices, Buy buttons and various useful information.
Users could make online purchases directly through these bots, as the Chat SDK enables developers to integrate Messenger’s built-in payments system. In this sense, Facebook Messenger could come into surprising competition with Apple Pay, which can be used within numerous businesses’ apps.
For Facebook, the popularity of such Messenger bots could encourage many of its users to stay with the social network’s apps – rather than, for example, temporarily leave Facebook to use apps of whatever companies, like retailers, hotels and ticket agencies, the users wish to buy from.
