Meet “M”, Your Personal Assistant

Facebook Messenger has been on a long journey of evolution since it’s launch. The addition of calls, video calls and even group chat was all something we got used to lately. Facebook is finally bringing the virtual assistant called “M” to Messenger users in Australia from today.

Since Messenger has been running as a seperate app we are in some cases using this app more than the Facebook app itself. Seen as a great alternative to WhatsApp (which Facebook owns anyway), Messenger has been going from strength to strength. This new assistant has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Call Suggestions

As M pays attention to your conversation, looking for certain keywords, it will pop up with the option to call. In the image above you can see clearly it is in a group chat and from one button you’ll initiate a call to your groupies.

Location Suggestions

If this doesn’t happen on every night out with friends we will be surprised. Meeting up with a group of friends can feel difficult and initiating this location sharing immediately after being asked “where are you?” will save you from running even later by finding the specific feature.

Link Saving

During a chat, especially if you are planning your next dining or travel experience, someone is likely to share a link suggesting “we should go to this place” etc. As the chats continue those links are easily lost without plenty of scrolling. As a link is shared you will be asked if you want to save the link for later and those links are then available at your finger tips for quick reference, even with other people.

Polling Time

Speaking of that dining experience you were planning, you’ll likely need to put restaurants to a vote among your friends. As soon as someone tosses a scenario out there, M will suggest a poll. Cast your votes people!

More and more features will continue to come to M, but like anything Facebook does, they do one piece at a time. Imagine if Facebook released what they have today all those years ago, we would have freaked out!