Facebook’s F8 Developers’ Conference this week saw a range of exciting new updates from the site. Which announcements were we at The Practice most excited about, and how might these impact the platform’s future? 

To kick things off, Mark Zuckerberg outlined his 10 year roadmap for Facebook, which prioritised video, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as drone and satellite connectivity and VR further down the line. But the first highly anticipated update was the launch of tools allowing developers to build chat bots within Facebook Messenger. These would enable additional functions to be brought to the app, that could help both businesses and users interact more effectively. For instance, chat bots which use artificial intelligence could possibly be adopted by businesses for customer communication. Or, bots could also be used to create convenience, by placing food delivery orders, or arranging taxi rides, for instance. Finally, Facebook demonstrated how bots could be used by publications such as CNN to let readers know about new or missed stories, and share topics of interest.

The news was followed by the announcement that Facebook Messenger was the site’s fastest-growing platform last year, the second most popular iOS app worldwide after Facebook’s own, and had a current monthly user-ship of 900 million. Clearly, chat bot developers would have needed no convincing that Facebook Messenger is the app in which to house this technology. And of course, Facebook already explained how it plans to monetise from chat bots- this will involve charging businesses to send re-engagement messages to people who have engaged in conversations with their bots.

VR also took centre stage at the event, with a demo of the site’s new 360 degree camera that can shoot 8,000 resolution videos. Named “Surround 360”, the camera demonstrated the way in which VR could soon enable tours around the globe, or allow for selfies taken via Oculus. This would also be compatible with the Samsung Gear and Facebook’s own app, enabling footage to be viewed through these. Clearly, video was one of the hot topics at F8, with the company also announcing the launch of a new live stream video feature that would be shown at the top of NewsFeed. This, Zuckerberg stated, would be an ideal way for both celebrities and brands to share their content in real time, and benefit from Facebook’s vast reach.

As we explored in an earlier post, Facebook’s Instant Articles feature looked set to be hugely advantageous for publishers, enabling users to read articles from global media companies within Facebook itself, instead of being directed externally. And at F8, it was announced that from now on, every publisher, including bloggers and other content creators, will be able to use this service, where it had previously only been available to a small range of publications. And publishers were also given the added benefit of a new “Save” button tool, which they would be able to add to their articles. This would allow readers to simply tap on the button, and then be able to add that piece of content to their existing Facebook articles list.

There was also the announcement of several new tools, including Facebook’s new login tool, Account Kit, which would enable developers to sign up new users simply with their phone number or email. Another tool gaining attention was the new Profile Expression kit”, which would enable users to edit profile images via their favourite third party photo apps, and create profile videos too. Other releases also included the site’s new Quote sharing tool, which would enable users to quickly share snippets of text from anywhere on the web directly into a Facebook post, eliminating the need to copy and paste.

We think the event revealed some very ambitious plans for the company, and some exciting updates to not only benefit developers, but users and businesses too. We’d love to know too, what you thought about the updates- are there any you think are especially groundbreaking? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.