Much akin to Apple’s world-renowned iMessage, Facebook Messenger, too, is an immersive and constantly evolving communications platform. And, even though we recently reported on a slew of Facebook Messenger tips and tricks you likely didn’t know about, the platform has only continued to evolve — even within the last few months, as Facebook has brought new and exciting features to the table with each successive update.
Is the platform poised to compete with Apple’s iMessage, directly? Probably not — and if that were ever the case, Apple would certainly put an end to it. But it’s still an exciting, up-and-coming communications platform in its own right — boasting plenty of room to grow, as Facebook continues to introduce new features. In fact, many new features were introduced at the company’s annual developers conference earlier this year.
So, what’s new as of today? Well, take a look for yourself — but also keep in mind, of course, that there’s plenty more to come.
1. Interact With a ChatBot
At the Facebook Developers Conference, the company announced that a slew of new and intuitive, intelligent ChatBots would soon be coming to its messenger platform. And while Facebook’s ChatBots certainly have a long way to go, the company has jumped headfirst into this exciting new way of interacting with messenger.
In the latest version of Facebook Messenger, you can search for available ChatBots directly via the “To:” link when starting a new message.
Certain media outlets, such as CNN and The Wall Street Journal, have already released their own ChatBots — which are capable of learning from your algorithms, interests, etc., in order to deliver the most useful information directly to you. To view a complete list of ChatBots that are currently available, you can visit this link.
2. Send a 15-Second Video
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well, if that’s the case, then what’s a 15-second video worth? Probably a lot more, needless to say, but I guess we’ll never know for sure..
While you’re out there trying to figure it out, though, perhaps you’d like to send one of them to your contacts via Facebook Messenger? Most of us know that we can send photos via messenger, already, but did you know that you can also send 15-second video clips? When taking a photo to send directly from the app, simply press-and-hold down on the shutter circle in the center of the screen for up to 15-seconds, while you record, and then tap send.
3. Play The Hidden Basketball Game
We learned that you can play chess with your contacts in Facebook Messenger, but you likely didn’t know that there’s also a basketball game that Facebook engineers have hidden deep within an unlikely area of the messenger app.
To access it, simply send your contact a basketball emoji, and then tap on it. The game, which, unfortunately, isn’t exactly like NBA 2K16 challenge or anything, should pop up almost instantly. Give it a try!
4. Transfer Files Through Messenger
No, we’re not just talking about photos and videos, but actual files, too! Unfortunately, this feature appears to be reserved exclusively for the web-based versions of Facebook and messenger.com; however, it’s fairly simple to attach files — such as Microsoft Word documents, for instance — to outgoing messages.
From the desktop Facebook website, simply click on the small paper clip icon that appears when you use the pop up messenger interface. Or, from the messenger.com interface, you can simply drag and drop files to send as attachments.
5. Supersize Your Like!
Let’s be honest here: Likes are a fun and easy way to express ourselves, right? But sometimes the standard, itty-bitty little ‘like’ simply isn’t enough to get our point across. And therefore, super sizing that bad boy might be just what the doctor ordered.
To do this, simply select and hold down on the blue thumbs up button on the bottom, right-hand corner of the screen. Once it’s grown to an acceptable size, you can just let go and it will send automatically.. Piece of cake..
What’s your favorite new hidden feature of Facebook Messenger? Let us know in the comments!
Source: idropnews.com