Alert, Chatbot Developers! Messenger Platform v1.4 Updates

Oksana Oboishchyk

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Mar 6, 2017 · 5 min read

Hi everyone :) Great news! Messenger has rolled out another awesome pack of updates that chatbot developers can benefit from. Let’s take a short overview of the most interesting features offered and the way they function.

One of the most intriguing updates is the persistent menu. It looks way much better now and adds much value to users as it is intuitive and is not hidden inside the 3-caret icon on the left of the composer any more. Currently, the new persistent menu will always be there for a user starting from the moment he taps the Get Started button. A user will be able to swipe down to close the menu and swipe up any time he wants to see the full list of available options there.

However, there is a list of limitations:

• Up to 3 levels of submenus. One can now create up to 3 levels of submenus.considering what features are most prominent and should be exposed to users in the first place. Sub-menus are limited to 5 items. For those chatbots that have more than 3 top-level items in the persistent menu, and have not reset a menu using this new format, Messenger will automatically truncate the menu by putting the remaining items in a “More” submenu.
• Ability to turn off freeform input. From now on, chatbot developers will be able to use the composer_input_disabled attribute, to entirely disable user input for users. If so, the user won’t be able to type anything or do any other action but for interacting with the chatbot via the persistent menu, quick replies, buttons, and the webview. This allows focusing user’s attention on the specific flow important for you instead of offering them a complete freedom of actions.
• Localization support. Developers can now provide text in multiple languages for each geographical region or country the chatbot users come from. Another benefit is that one can create entirely different menus for these local groups of users, which makes the experience even more personalized.

Another great update is a set of new sharing features that will help your chatbot gain viral traction. Let’s take a closer look at these features:

• Links shared from webview will contain attribution link back to your bot by default. This feature can be disabled.
• Customized Sharing from webview via Messenger Extensions. You can use this feature to control the formatting of the resulting share bubble and provide a specific call to action (e.g. “Buy”, “Play”, “Rate”, “Allow”, etc.). Another way to handle it is to direct the recipient into some specific flow hosted at a different URL than the one the sender is seeing. (e.g. playing a game, rating the experience, filling in the survey, etc.).
• Updated Share button functionality. Share button now allows specifying a message, rather than only sharing the bubble it was included in.
• Bot deep-links via m.me support via all the above-mentioned messages. When sharing specific content via the Share button in the chatbot flow or via a webview, a recipient of the Share message can enter the chatbot either using the button with the link to the bot with the help of m.me link or activate a specific flow when he clicks the link with a pre-setup ref parameter.

FB developers have also added Messenger Profile API for accessing your bot’s properties. This means that from now on you can access multiple properties with one POST call to /me/messenger_profile?access_token=PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN with the property names and their new settings in the body of the request.

Another great news is that developers can set target audience for their chatbot. Specified target audience determines who will see the chatbot in the discovery surfaces on Messenger (e.g. bots list in the search null state). Other users will also be able to find the chatbot through other channels like search, m.me links, etc.

Currently, there are three types of target audience settings:

1. open to all users;
2. closed to all users;
3. open or closed to custom set of users.

Improved Customer Matching is another feature rolled out. Customer Matching lets you connect existing customers to your bot using their phone number. You simply need to send a message using the Send API specifying the user’s phone number and the name you have on file for this user. It will appear as a message request inside Messenger. The user can read the message and either accept it or deny it. If accepted, you can onb

oard this user to your chatbot’s main experience.

With the Page Messaging Insights API, you can programmatically retrieve the same information as a user can see when viewing the Page Insights tab of the FB page the chatbot is connected to. Two metrics are available via this API:

• page_messages_active_threads_unique: daily unique active thread counts.
• page_messages_feedback_by_action_unique: daily unique conversation counts, including such user’s actions as:

1. messaging turn-ons;
2. messaging turn-offs;
3. thread deletions;
4. report spams;
5. others.

Messenger Code API has also been updated in this release. It helps to programmatically fetch the Messenger Code for a chatbot. As you already know, Messenger Codes are scanned by users to instantly link them to your bot. They can also be used for marketing purposes on fliers, leaflets, ads, etc.

Attachment Upload API allows you to upload an attachment without having to repeatedly upload the same data each time it is sent to multiple users.Only the following multimedia attachments are supported:

• image;
• audio;
• video;
• file.

Among other minor but interesting enhancements are:

• image aspect ratio option for generic templates: horizontal image aspect ratio is 1.91:1 and square image aspect ratio is 1:1;
• increased text limit for messages and button template from 320 to 640 characters;
• Increased limit on quick replies to 11 items.

This is a big update filled with a lot of new features. I hope we will see implementations of these features in your future chatbot projects. Till next time!