Facebook has gone from just a social network to one of the biggest technology companies in the world. The Facebook F8 developer conference was exciting as the company announced some new products that can only be described as innovative.
From chatbots to the new open-source 360° camera, the developer event showed what the social networking giant has in stock for developers and regular users.
Chatbots are coming
2016 may be the year of chatbots. During the recently concluded Microsoft Build developer event, Microsoft announced that bots are coming to Skype. Messenger too is about to get invaded with bots in a good way. Brands can now interact with users through messaging powered by bots. Instead of calling to setup an order, make a reservation or book a flight, simply messaging the brand on Facebook can do the trick.360° VR camera
Facebook also announced a new 360 degree camera with 17 cameras. This is geared towards virtual content creation and the good thing about this is that it’s completely open source. For both hardware and software, the reference design code will be made available on GitHub.
The camera is able to capture 8k video and created content can be viewed in Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.
Live streaming integration into 3rd party apps and cameras
Live streaming on Facebook is no longer just limited to your phone camera and Facebook app, Facebook has announced that it will continue to push live streaming with the new API that will allow developers to integrate the feature into their apps. The API will also allow users to stream live from third party cameras, not just the ones built into their mobile devices.Profile Expression Kit
Facebook has already rolled out the 7-second profile video to lots of users but now, it’s allowing third party applications to upload these short profile video for users. Vine and Boomernag seem to be the first two partners but the kit is now available to developers to use in their video apps.Other features to lookout for
The event isn’t just for developers, Facebook did announce some features coming to its platform for users. Facebook signup for apps and websites isn’t new but users still need to sign in with their username and password. Account Kit will soon allow users to log in to any app using their email and phone number.For a while now, users can save posts to read later on Facebook but this will be extended as a website button.