Facebook Chatbots and VR camera

Further proving this is the year of bots and VR, Facebook announced some interesting new products.

·       Facebook announced “Agents on Messenger” a program for business to create chatbots for customer service, ecommerce and more. Customers can send a text to the chat and the Chatbots can respond with texts, custom links, and buttons that would allow users ask questions, to pay for items, or book rooms.

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·       Facebook also launched a Live video API that lets you broadcast to Facebook from any device.

·       The company also revealed an open source VR camera called Surround 360. The 17-lens camera require almost no post-production work. Rather than selling it Facebook will open source the designs and video stitching-algorithms and post to Github. Parts are estimated to cost $30,000.

Facebook adds Periscope like features

TechCrunch reports that Facebook is adding a live streaming button to the middle of its iOS and Android apps leading to a dedicated page and a map of live streams. You can choose to stream to groups or events now and viewers can use all Facebook reactions. Comments and reactions will replay when viewed later. Facebook is paying some publishers to stream on the platform. The new button and features should roll out to users over the next few weeks.