Facebook to Launch Group Chatbots
The upcoming F8 conference, an annual event held by Facebook, will most likely see the release of group chatbots for Facebook Messenger.
Although nothing has been confirmed by Facebook at the time of writing, sources have confirmed this is coming.
What's happening?
Group chatbots would help every Messenger group chat member stay up to date with various things like news, sports events, product delivery, and so on.
A group's user could add a chatbot to the discussion, keeping everyone up to date on the events or news that interests them.
Group chatbots might be Facebook's answer to their self-confessed discoverability issues.
So far, Facebook Messenger only allows users to discover bots by either typing their name in the search bar or by clicking a featured bot from a select few presented in Messenger. We addressed this issue in a recent article, Your Top 5 Facebook Chatbot Questions Answered.
Group chatbots could bring virality into the mix. Group users would add a bot to the group, thereby instantly exposing it to a larger audience.
Facebook is also believed to further open up its APIs, enabling developers to build group bots.
Our thoughts
Overall, this is good (unconfirmed) news from Facebook. It should bring greater opportunity for everyone involved, from broadcasters to enterprise, and end-users.
We will need to sit tight and wait for the official announcement to appropriately gauge the impact of this development.
