This past week, developers from around the globe descended on San Francisco for Facebook’s f8 Developers Conference at Fort Mason Center. Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zukerberg, outlined the future of the platform as one that includes virtual reality, custom GIFs and faster communication. According to Zuckerberg, the site will progress from text-based to a more visual, virtual reality platform. Several big announcements were made throughout the course of the conference. Here is what you need to know.
Messenger: The Facebook application is officially open to third-party developers. Prior to the official launch on Wednesday, Facebook worked with over 40 developers to enhance their messaging platform. The biggest change is that users will soon be able to communicate with businesses. This is great news for businesses looking for new ways to connect with their customers, and for customers who want to connect with the businesses that they choose.
Shopping: Directly connected to the Messenger enhancements, Facebook is shifting their focus towards commerce. It is now possible to receive order confirmations from the platform as well as receive shipping information. There are also options to return items, and communicate with customer service departments.
Embeddable Video: Sharing videos on Facebook has been available for a while; however embedding them anywhere took quite a bit of time and stress, making YouTube an easier choice for most. Now, just click the “embed” button and receive a string of code, similar to many other video hosting sites, and paste that code into the platform of your choosing.
Facebook’s announcements this past week indicate an exciting, visually stimulating future, and the MJ2 Marketing team is ready to implement these tools for your business.