Messenger 2.1 Rolls Out With In-Built Natural Language Processing Tool and New Payment SDK

In a groundbreaking announcement, Facebook has unveiled Messenger Platform 2.1, causing quite a stir in the tech community. People’s attention has been particularly drawn to its embedded feature: a natural language processing (NLP) tool that aims to facilitate automated responses.

The Natural Language Processing tool embedded in Messenger 2.1 was developed by Wit.ai, a tech firm acquired by Facebook back in 2015. The NLP tool’s function is to detect common words or phrases, such as “thanks”, “bye”, and even recognize phone numbers and email addresses in chat conversations. Once these common elements are identified, the tool is designed to orchestrate an automated response on the user’s behalf to the other party in the chat.

In a recent blog post, Facebook declared, “This is the first step in bringing NLP capabilities to all developers, enabling brands to scale their experiences on Messenger.”

David Marcus, the leader of the Messenger team, shared insights on this innovative development while conversing with a group of reporters at Facebook’s headquarters. “We have more and more natural language interactions inside of Messenger,” explained Marcus. “We want to help third-party developers, existing enterprise, and customer support and service centers automate a lot of these interactions. A major requirement for automation is understanding what people are asking.”

The new Messenger version also includes a feature for seamless payments. Facebook describes this update as “a new SDK designed to make the Messenger webview payment process easier and more efficient for people.” As a result, customers can now execute payments using a streamlined one-step process through Messenger webview. However, it should be noted that this feature was initially launched only in the United States, and Facebook has not yet announced any plans for introducing it in other regions.

Moreover, Messenger 2.1 has introduced exciting new features, including a handover protocol that transfers conversations from bots to humans. This protocol enables businesses to create multiple experiences within a single bot – for example, a company can transition seamlessly from an automated (bot) to a one-on-one (human) conversation. This feature is available globally and is currently in open beta, just like other features of Messenger 2.1.

With more buttons added to the app, users are provided more options. In addition to the currently available “Send Message” CTA, businesses and developers can select from an array of actions: Shop Now, Get Support, Get Updates, Play Now, and Get Started.

Indeed, the announcement of Messenger 2.1 demonstrates Facebook’s continuous commitment to integrating advanced technology into their platforms, delivering improved and seamless experiences to their users.