Facebook Introduces Exciting New Features Coming Soon to iPhone and iPad

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Facebook held its annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco, California — whereat the social media conglomerate revealed to members of the media and developers, alike, an overview of what the company projects to incorporate into its ever-evolving platform over the course of roughly the next decade.

And since Facebook for mobile, in particular, has become quite the cornerstone of the company’s presence in recent years — as its apps have recently surpassed a whopping 446 million installs between iOS and Android, combined, we thought it’d only be appropriate to take a look at some of these cool new features that are likely to appear on your iPhone or iPad sometime in the not too distant future.

First and foremost among them, which several users have already reported seeing pop up on their newsfeed lately, is a feature the company is calling “Facebook Live.” In essence, this is a live video streaming platform that the company has introduced primarily in light of the scorching popularity of web-based, live video streaming services; and its primary intent is to showcase a users actions, events, or activities in live, real-time form, so that other users can follow along with them.

It’s almost like Vine or Snapchat, for instance; however, as opposed to sending out pre-recorded, edited content to your friends and followers, Facebook Live video will show up on a users feed in real-time. Most of the current candidates in the Republican and Democratic presidential races have started using this feature lately to live-cast their campaign rallies and town hall events, for instance — so users can watch those events in real-time on their Facebook feed.

Alongside Facebook Live, the company also introduced its “Live API” — which will allow 3rd party app and hardware developers to incorporate the Facebook Live functionality, a universal feature that will work across multiple 3rd party hardware and software platforms.

Shifting our focus to Facebook’s increasingly popular Messenger app, the company introduced a consortium of new features — although many of them might not be so evident to the average user right out of the gate. Among the most game-changing, however, is that Facebook officially opened its Messenger, as well as its new “Bots” platform, to any and all interested developers.

Most notably, Facebook opened its Messenger platform to businesses looking to sell their products to customers via the Messenger app. So say you’re looking to purchase a new pair of shoes, for example, but you have specific requirements that you want to be met or ranges you want to stay within — such as price, size, or color. Well, you might soon be able to search for, purchase, and even chat with on-line representatives from the company selling the specific shoe you’re looking for — all from the comfort and convenience of the Messenger app.

Facebook also opened the Bots platform to 3rd party content providers — such as CNN or FOX News, for example — to create “conversational Bots” utilizing the new platform. For example, it was explained at the event that developers would be able to “feed the bot” with sample conversations, which, utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, would then learn the ins and outs of your specific content.

Last, but certainly not least, Facebook took the wraps off what it’s calling “Account Kit” — a new tool that will enable users to easily sign up or log into 3rd party apps by simply providing their phone number. Up until this point, if you’ve ever used a 3rd party Facebook app — such as a game, or when sharing content on your newsfeed from an outside media source, the app would ask that you allow it to sign into Facebook (and even post on your behalf, in some cases).

However, with the introduction of Account Kit, Facebook is hoping to simplify this process by allowing you to link to an app or share content by providing just an email address or phone number. For argument sake, when signing up for an app via email, a confirmation code will be sent to you via SMS so as to expedite the login process.

Keep in mind, as we mentioned, however: aside from Facebook Live, most of these new features won’t be making their way to mobile for some time. But it’s cool to know they’re at least currently in the works, right? And so we just might begin to see them trickle out onto the platform sooner rather than later.

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What are your thoughts on sharing live videos via Facebook? How about the prospect of shopping for products via Messenger? Let us know in the comments below!

Featured photo © Rosshelen | Dreamstime.com – Woman Watching Facebook News With New IPhone Photo