Critical Announcement: Facebook Messenger Is Not Allowing New Bots (Resolved)
Hello Chatbots Magazine readers!
Update, May 1st, 2018: Facebook has turned Messenger experiences back on!
Update, April 17th, 2018: Facebook has announced that they will start allowing certain developers to launch new Messenger experiences.
As you may have already heard, Facebook is working hard to improve their platform after the recent news from Cambridge Analytica. This is a good thing.
You can read more about Cambridge Analytica on the New York Times and by watching Mark Zuckerberg speak on CNNMoney.
At a high level, Facebook’s API use to allow you to collect information not just on the person connecting to your Facebook App, but you could also pull information from all of that person’s friends (so for every person connecting to your app you could get access to data on hundreds or even thousands of people).
Facebook’s data practices are now being investigated by the FTC, and as a result Facebook has announced that they are doing a full data audit on thousands of Facebook Apps to see if there are any other instances of companies like Cambridge Analytica abusing the system.
You can read more about the FTC investigation on CNBC.
As of yesterday, Facebook is no longer allowing new bots on their platform. According to Facebook, this halt on bots (and Facebook apps in general) is supposed to only last a few weeks while they complete their internal audits. We are confident that they will allow new bots and apps after this period, but we do not have specifics around how long this will take.
You can read Facebook’s official statement on their Messenger blog.
What does this mean?
- If your Facebook page does not currently have a bot, you will not be able to add one.
- If your Facebook page has a bot, and you disconnect it, you will not be able to add it back.
When can we add new bots and Messenger experiences?
- In a few weeks.
What if my business needs a bot within the next month?
- We might be able to help you, let us know here.
Is this the end of bots?!
- Not at all! We, and Facebook, have seen first hand that conversational marketing has a major impact on the relationship between businesses and consumers. As an example, many businesses using Octane AI have increased revenue by 7–25% (Disclaimer: Chatbots Magazine is operated by Octane AI)
I want to have a revenue-driving, customer-happiness-increasing, and all around incredible bot for my business, what do I do?
- If you are a Shopify store, go here.
- If you use Salesforce Commerce Cloud, go here.
- If you are a store, or sell something online, but you don’t use Shopify or Commerce Cloud, go here.
- If you are a brand, or celebrity, or a politician, go here.
- If you are an agency, go here.
- If you just want to say hi, go here.
I just want to read lots and lots and lots of article about chatbots, what do I do?!
- Ah! Well then, you should probably start by checking out the home page of Chatbots Magazine for the newest articles!
Wait, actually, I really just want to read about ecommerce!
- Trying to throw us for a curve ball?! Don’t worry, we STILL go you covered. Check out our newest magazine, Ecommerce Magazine (yeah, I know, we aren’t very original with our magazine names).
What have you and the Octane AI team been up to recently?
- Thanks for asking! We’ve been speaking at SXSW, traveling the United States meeting with our awesome customers, and diving deep into the world of conversational commerce (if you use Shopify, you should check this out right now).
Didn’t you just shoot a bunch of awesome videos with your customers?
- We did! How did you know! Check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-acgMNAyLco&list=PLh0pwaF6u7HcPnEZX2bY_4yzGL3_7Diuk
I hope you all have a fantastic day, and thank you for your continued support!
Thanks,
Matt Schlicht
Creator of Chatbots Magazine + CEO of Octane AI
