SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says people who use its Messenger chat service will soon be able to order flowers, request news articles and talk with businesses by sending them direct text messages.
At its annual conference for software developers, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is releasing new tools that businesses can use to build “chat bots,” or programs that talk to customers in conversational language.
Facebook is trying to get people to spend more time and do more things on its social network and related apps. Zuckerberg said the company also plans to make it easier for people to stream live video from drones and other devices.