Facebook Messenger now open to developers

Facebook Messenger is getting some app integration, according to Facebook. The company spent a lot of time at F8 describing just how the improvements would impact the platform that has become one of the largest messaging platforms in the world. Messenger has 600 million users right now, and the service is one that the company wants to turn into an operational platform of its own. That means, they’re integrating app development into Messenger.

Some of the integration that Facebook hopes to bring to Messenger will be business related for the most part. While the company will obviously work to incorporate some other features – the vast majority of the updating and upgrading that Facebook wants to see within the Messenger platform are business related. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. This could mean that users who might have purchased something from a store, could potentially make changes to that order, or see where their package is through Messenger.

Facebook’s head of messaging products, David Marcus said, “We all have to agree that it’s pretty painful to interact with businesses right now. We’re bringing back the conversational nature of commerce.” That mood is one that is understated, for sure. Typically, consumers have become overly agitated by the growing tension between customers and businesses. Facebook now hopes that they can limit some of that, especially given the rise of online chat sessions to solve issues online, or solve technical issues that arise.

Some of the apps that Facebook is going to integrate into Messenger are already available, according to Facebook, and include ESPN, the Weather Channel, and many more. While it’s unclear right now just how much of an impact those apps will have on the bottom line for Facebook, this is definitely a step in the right direction. More users will be able to take advantage of what they typically, or frequently use on their smartphone, without even leaving the Messenger app.

That, of course, is Facebook’s ultimate goal. They want to keep users locked into their network, and that really has become the focus of most of the products that Facebook is launching. Now, with the integration of apps into the Facebook Messenger profile, it simply will become even bigger a product than it already has. This could actually be the innovation on Facebook Messenger that pushes it to the next level.