As part of a broader update, Facebook Messenger is
now letting businesses carry over customer conversations to their own websites.
Still in closed beta testing, the new chat plugin allows businesses to continue cross-device conversations
between Messenger and their respective properties. It supports current platform capabilities from payments to rich media.
Beta partners include Adore Me, Air France, Argos, Aviva, Bodeaz,
Goibibo, Keto Mojo, KLM, Mermaid Pillow, Spoqa, Total Activation, Volaris and Zalando.
Facebook is also rolling out a new media template, which will enable businesses to attach a CTA button
when sending videos, images and gifs, or when sharing content from the “webview.”
The template also supports FB URLs so businesses can now include user actions, like a share button
to their videos and images in order to increase engagement.
Facebook Messenger is also releasing a Broadcast API in open beta, which gives businesses with the messaging subscriptions the
ability to send messages to multiple subscribers. As of April, Facebook Messenger boasted more than 1.2 billion monthly active users.
Among other innovations, Facebook recently began inviting
U.S. consumers to use PayPal directly from Messenger.
This summer, Facebook began inviting
Messenger users to add animated reactions, filters, masks and other effects to their video chats.
Despite the popularity of messaging services like Messenger and WhatsApp, Facebook has
struggled to monetize these platforms.
“Although Messenger is widely used … consumers have been slow to warm up to the idea of interacting with chat bots and paid
advertising in messaging applications,” eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson said earlier this year.
“Facebook has faced scrutiny in Europe over its plan to merge
data from WhatsApp with data from Facebook,” she noted. “These scenarios tell me that generating significant ad revenue from Messenger and WhatsApp is still a ways off."