That Wired Facebook Messenger article: 30 second summary.
We’re in the Messaging era. People spend more time messaging than they do social networking.
Facebook Messenger wants people to interact with businesses through messaging conversations. So you’d ask, explore options, order, and pay all through conversation. The companies learn your preferences — where you want things delivered, what you usually buy, and contribute intelligently to the conversation.
The Web is suffering on mobile. Ecommerce sites get 60% of traffic on mobile but only 10% of checkouts. Buying stuff on a mobile web site is hard. Messenger wants to make it easy. Driving users to mobile apps is also hard — Messenger makes getting customers much easier.
So, in FB Messenger’s world conversations replace web sites and many apps. But how do we find businesses to talk to? Facebook’s “M” is the guide that puts you in touch with vendors. It’s Facebook Messenger’s Google search.
FB Messenger will make money through ads — putting buyers in touch with sellers — not taking a tax on payment. It’s still working with selected partners currently but one day will open the floodgates.
So, Facebook Messenger is betting on the rise of chat bots as the future of interaction between customers and businesses online. Meanwhile, mainstream Facebook bets on more web-like point & click through company ‘Pages’.
