At F8. the annual developer conference in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg, the 31-year-old Facebook CEO, unveiled their 10 year roadmap for the world’s largest social networking website.
Facebook’s grand roadmap [image above] will focus on improving its existing set of applications.
In the coming five years, Facebook developers will be bent more towards connectivity, VR and Artificial Intelligence.
Here are the most exciting takeaways from the event.
Facebook’s New Messenger Platform [Beta] + Bot Support
Pointing out the fact that people now send 60 billion messages in a day with Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger, Zuckerberg introduced a new Messenger Platform. The platform (still in beta) allows businesses to create their own Messenger bots and interact directly with customers.
The future of customer service is bots. Zuckerberg shows the new @messenger platform beta #F8 pic.twitter.com/cUaSygVtAz
— Product Hunt (@ProductHunt) April 12, 2016
So, what can a person do with this? People can check the weather updates, order flowers, buy shoes directly from their favorite brands and much more. Now this is huge, isn’t it?
Improving the Quality of Internet Connectivity
Facebook believes that everyone in the world should get equally great Internet connectivity, no matter where they live. The connectivity lab at Facebook is working to “connect the unconnected and improve the experience of the underserved”.
On Day 2, the social network giant announced Terragraph and Aries, two terrestrial systems that will work on improvising the connectivity across the globe. Aries is meant to provide connectivity to the inhabitants of low population areas whereas the former means to serve the densely populated areas.
Live Video
Another exciting aspect which was brought into light was the new live streaming feature. Now, people can use facebook to go live on the web, not only from their smartphones but from all sorts of devices, even drones! To prove their point, Zuckerberg threw a live example by sending out a drone to float above the stage. The audiences were bowled over when they actually saw themselves live on the screen.
Not only this, there is also going to be a livestreaming map, where people can spot live videos from all around the world. They’ll appear as blue dots at the locations from where they are being streamed. One can hover over the dots to see the details of the videos, and if any of them interest them, they can simply click and view.
Facebook, keeping in mind the success of live video, opened up its live API for developers.
Make a note content marketers, as this going to be the future of visual content.
Focus on Integrating Virtual Reality with Social Media
Social VR, as Facebook suggests “has the potential to be more social”. Facebook’s plan is to explore the possibilities where people can actually communicate with the environment and other people via use of VR.
It has created a 360-degree camera (which it will open-source) to capture virtual reality imagery for its Oculus Rift headset. Along with the camera, Facebook has built software to stitch the footage together as a seamless 360-degree video.
Mark put an end to his presentation by announcing free Samsung Gear VR headsets and headphones for everybody present over there at F8. Now that’s how you end a grand presentation. Hatsoff !
All #F8 attendees are getting a Samsung Phone and Gear VR!
Drops Mic.
pic.twitter.com/1QS6vaffGh
— Product Hunt (@ProductHunt) April 12, 2016
