Facebook's Zuckerberg Releases Messenger Platform With Bot Store And Live Video API

The bots are, for sure, coming to Facebook. After nearly a year of rumors circulating about Facebook creating a bot store and several other apps releasing such a system, the company has announced its own system for users to communicate with businesses without another human on the other line. "I don't know anyone who likes calling businesses," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "We think there's got to be a better way to do this. Facebook released Messenger Platform Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced at the company's annual F8 developers conference. Launch partners include CNN and 1-800-Flowers. The system now lets a Messenger user get news from CNN and order flowers, for example, by chatting with a bot. "To order from 1-800-Flowers, you never have to call 1-800-Flowers again," Zuckerberg said, inspiring laughs from the audience. Additionally, Facebook released an application programming interface for live video, which means app developers can integrate Facebook's live product into their own apps or websites. For example, drone manufacturers can integrate Facebook Live into their devices to live-stream video from a drone. Not every developer at F8 or beyond the conference may choose to build a company on Facebook's chatbots, but it can be a quicker way to grow and establish a business than trying to market one's own app. "You're going to see a lot of really successful small businesses that are chatbot-based.