Facebook Announces Its New Personal Assistant Built into Messenger
Stephanie Beck
The internet marketing world has been buzzing about Facebook's bold answer to Siri and Cortana. In a Facebook post on August 26, David Marcus, lead Facebook Messenger, shared an update about Facebook's newest service called M. As you may know, Apple has Siri, while Microsoft has Cortana or Google Now. Those "intelligent personal assistants" rely entirely on technology, and although they can be used by a lot of people, their range of tasks are somewhat limited. M has been described as more of a hybrid. M can help you find items to purchase or a good restaurant nearby, just like the other assistants. However, here is where the road forks: M can actually complete actions for you. According to Facebook, users can have M purchase items, book a restaurant reservation, make travel plans, and more!
As with any newtechnology, there will be a rollout process. In fact, a few hundred Facebook users in the Bay Area had the prompt when they opened their
Messenger apps in August. How is this different from Siri or other assistants? Since Siri and I are pretty much "besties" when it comes to my daily tasks, I personally love using Siri for all kinds of tasks, but she is limited. Siri can find links for possible answers to my questions or needs, but it sounds as if M is working on a new level. According to reports, M will not only find links to a restaurant, but it will also make reservations there for you. It can also find birthday gifts for your spouse, or suggest and then book weekend getaways! How does it do this? According to Facebook, it uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and actual people.
Apparently, Facebook's mission is to have Messenger be the first stop for mobile searches. Google has long dominated the market when it comes to searching online via desktops and laptops. With mobile devices, though, any number of apps could be used, such as Google, Google Maps, Twitter, Pinter-
est, or if you're like me, just ask Siri. Facebook limits the search because it doesn't have its own operating system, so users must download an app and then open it to begin searching.
According to Marcus, Facebook is betting on the fact that by creating a virtual assistant powerful enough, it will be the first thought for anyone lookingto do or buy anything. "We start capturing all your intent for the things you want to do," says Marcus. "Intent often leads to buying something, or to a transaction, and that's the opportunity for us to (make money) overtime."
When will you know if this service is available in your area? Users will tap a small button at the bottom of the Messenger app to send a note to M, the same way you private message someone now on Facebook. This is a free service just like Siri, and M's software translates the language, asks any additional questions, and sends updates as the task is completed. You won't know whether a computer or actual person has helped.
According to Marcus, M doesn't pull from the social data that Facebook collects to complete tasks, at least for now. Therefore, if you request a gift for a patient, the service will make suggestions based only on your answers to questions and previous conversations you had with M. Marcus says that may change "at some point with proper user consent."
What could that mean for the chiropractic world? Consider it from a consumer's standpoint. Can you imagine someone looking for a chiropractor in his or her area and M being able to not only suggest your practice, but also book an appointment at your clinic? What if you asked M to find all Facebook users in a 10-mile radius of your practice who posted about hurting their backs today? You could instruct M to send them a link to your website regarding injury protocol with an opportunity to book an emergency appointment!
According to sources, Facebook employees have been using M for several weeks to do everything from organizing elaborate dinner parties to tracking down unusual beverages in New Orleans. Following is an example of how it works. "An engineer went to Paris for a couple days, and his friend asked M to redecorate his desk in a French style," Marcus saids. "Twenty-four hours later, the desk was decorated with a proper napkin, baguette bread, and a beret." Another popular request from Facebook employee
Con you imagine someone looking for a chiropractor in his or her area and M being able to not only suggest your practice, but also book an
appointment at your clinic.99
testers was to have M call their cable company and endure the endless hold times and automated messages to help set up home Wi-Fi or cancel a service.
Can you imagine having M manage the wait time of being on hold with insurance companies for you? The great thing about it is that it will be a person on hold on your behalf. Since there is a human element involved, the Facebook M trainers have custom service backgrounds, so they can make the trickier judgment calls and perform tasks beyond other software limitations.
Consider this scenario: if you have M plan the next workshop or live event for your practice, the software might set up the caterer for the food, order the decorations, have copies of your flyers printed and delivered, and complete any other time-sucking tasks that take you out of the office. "M learns from human behaviors," says Marcus. Eventually, it is highly possible that the service could be sophisticated enough to figure things out on its own, but don't lookforthat in the near future. M trainers and the Facebook engineeringteam are working hand in
hand to supercharge the service. This could be a huge boost for employment because Marcus anticipates that Facebook will employ thousands of M trainers, which will be a nice economic investment—and goodness knows we can use that! Facebook plans to use data generated by the service to feed more complex AI systems that can reduce the burden on their trainers.
Facebook has been assisting businesses through Messenger for several months now. In March 2015, Marcus announced the new feature Business on Messenger, which allows businesses to send receipts, notify customers that packages have been shipped, and provide basic customer service. "We have a lot of threads open between businesses and people, and the engagement is very good," says Marcus. "Now we want to open it to more businesses."
June 30 is known as National Social Media Day to all social media and online marketers. At my local San Diego Social Media Day event this year, a Facebook representative told us that Facebook's mission was to be the next customer service management system for businesses. It wanted to go beyond being just another social media platform and help all businesses with daily tasks. On August 5, Facebook announced the rollout for business pages to be able to start personally messaging their fans. Previously, page admins could only respond to customers once
the person contacted them on their pages. Very soon, if not already for some business pages, page admins will be able to reply to public comments with private messages on their page, helping to keep the integrity of practice and private customer requests more efficiently. This change, in addition to the new assistant rollout, really enhances and, in my humble opinion, adds a new dimension to the social experience and opportunity for practices. The number one complaint I frequently hear from chiropractic assistants and doctors has to do with time management and being able to accomplish all of the tasks necessary. Given the right strategy and implementation of proper guidelines for usage, these new options could be a very effective time management assistant for any practice. So that's all the more reason to start being smart with your social media and make it imperative to have a social media strategy that works with your practice to help grow and enhance the patient experience.
Stephanie Beck, owner of SRB Solutions, creator of Social Media Laptop Workshops for I Practitioners and Social Content Creator for Chiropractors is an educator and advocate for online marketing success, working with health and wellness practitioners for over a decade. She is a three-time bestselling author, has been a published columnist since 2003, and has specialized in managing social relationships for practices the pastfive years. Book your free 30-minute social conversation now at http://bit.ly/lFpApTv.
