Facebook has begun turning its Messenger application into a platform for e-commerce, video and more, in a bid to shake up online communication. Facebook co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has unveiled Messenger Platform, describing it as a way for software developers to boost appeal to the more than 600 million people using the application. Company pages will also be able to use Messenger to speak to page fans. “We think this service has the potential to allow people to express themselves in new
ways and to be an important communication tool for the world,” Zuckerberg said, as he kicked off the California-based company’s annual developers conference in San Francisco.
Facebook executives introduced more than 25 products and tools tailored to help developers “build, grow, and monetise” mobile applications aimed at the social network’s audience of around 1.39 billion people.
Messenger is being upgraded to allow users to share photos, audio clips, videos, animated snippets, and other digital content in what has the potential to tread on turf long dominated by Google-owned YouTube.
The changes underscore Facebook’s vision for Messenger as a new communication tool that complements the social network and ramps up efforts to compete with rivals like Snapchat, which is adding media partners to its messaging app.
AFP
