At today's Facebook F8 event in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg and other folks on the team announced a bunch of new features, most of which were leaked ahead of time.
This is a conference for developers, so the announcements were pretty geeky, but the biggest deal was probably the ability for people to build apps that integrate directly into Facebook Messenger.
So, for instance, ESPN will have an app that lets you insert funny animated GIFs of sports events directly into a Messenger message.
Another big move was a video player that any site will be able to embed directly on their site, like you can do with YouTube videos today. Video has been a huge focus for Facebook recently, and this will extend its video reach to the entire web. It's a huge strike against Google's YouTube.
Facebook also announced an update to a mobile advertising product called LiveRail. It will help publishers show so-called "native" ads -- ads that integrate directly into the stream of content -- and make money from them. It's basically a big strike against Google's DoubleClick platform, which is the dominant force in online advertising. You can read more about the move here.
There were a few other interesting bits as well. See below for our coverage of the event as it happened:
12:53 PM
We're all waiting outside Fort Mason, where the conference is happening. Here's the line.
12:55 PM
OK, entering the building now. Weird symbols.
12:58 PM
Here's the inside of the room. More weird symbols. What do they all mean?
12:59 PM
The crowd is milling around. We'll be taking our seats soon.
1:05 PM
We're having some pretty serious problems getting online here. The event is in sort of a concrete bunker, so it's hard to connect. We're monitoring the live stream, but it's having troubles as well. Stay tuned....
1:08 PM
Mark is on stage now. Talking about how popular Facebook is for developers.
1:09 PM
There are more than 30 million apps and sites on Facebook's platform now.
1:10 PM
"We want to make sure we always put people first....Because when people feel good about their privacy and security, that's when they're open to new experiences, like all the apps you're building."
1:12 PM
New platform called Threat Exchange, helps companies exchange info about malware and cyberattacks. Hackers assume that developers aren't communicating. Facebook wants to fix that.
1:14 PM
"Now, let's talk about the future....Facebook used to be this single blue app, and it did this thing. Now Facebook is a family." 1 billion+ use Facebook, but 700 million use Groups, 700 million use WhatsApp, 300 million use Instagram every month.
1:16 PM
People are sharing many more times each day than we've been able to in the past, thanks to mobile. "This is a really big opportunity. But we can't do it alone." Because the sharing is happening in other apps.
1:17 PM
Spherical videos -- videos that let you move around in a 360 degree view. They'll be supported in the News Feed, and of course coming to the Oculus Rift VR headset.
1:18 PM
Here's another angle on that spherical video. You can really move around the whole range of vision.
1:19 PM
Sharing is confusing, so they're working on a consistent way to share from different apps.
1:20 PM
Now, Messenger.
1:21 PM
Messenger now accounts for more than 10% of voice-over-IP calling globally.
1:22 PM
Here's the big announcement: Messenger Platform. "It's a new platform that developers can use to build apps that connect with more than 600 million people who use Messenger every day."
1:23 PM
Two big things today. First, a new way to discover apps that allow sharing within Messenger. Here's what that looks like.
1:24 PM
Second, direct messaging to businesses.
1:25 PM
So, for instance, messaging receipts, tracking for packages, that kind of thing.
1:27 PM
Now, David Marcus is going to come up to talk more details about Messenger Platform. He was the former president of PayPal and joined Facebook last summer.
1:27 PM
More background on Marcus if you're interested:
1:29 PM
He's showing how you can add Giphy from within Messenger, giving you access to millions of animated GIFs right inside Messenger.
1:30 PM
NOTE: David Marcus pronounces "gif" with a hard "g." Not like "jif."
1:32 PM
ESPN has a Messenger app that lets you put animated GIFs of funny/interesting sports events into messages.
1:32 PM
I can't wait to send animated GIFs of Richard Sherman picking off Colin Kaepernick next year, honestly.
1:34 PM
E-commerce has lost some of the personal experience of buying things in a shop. Facebook wants to make it a little more personal.
1:34 PM
When you buy something online, you get an email. When it ships you get an email, and so on.
1:36 PM
Now, you can get instant shipping notifications and enhanced receipts in Messenger.
1:37 PM
Basically, Messenger can show you info every step of the transaction. It's all in one thread, not a bunch of disconnected emails.
1:38 PM
You can even track when the shipment is getting close to you!
1:38 PM
Zulilly, Everlane are partners, Zendesk is providing customer service.
1:39 PM
Next up is Ilya Sukhar, the leader of Parse. That's a mobile development platform that Facebook acquired a couple years ago. It makes it easier for developers to create apps that work on different platforms -- Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and so on.
1:40 PM
This is going to get pretty geeky here. But basically, Parse takes care of a lot of stuff -- like security, and signing people in -- so app developers don't have to do that themselves for every app they create.
1:42 PM
Oh, they just started playing the snowman song from "Frozen"
1:43 PM
A lot of apps are using Parse for sending push notifications. Orbitz pushes airport walking directions. CBS Interactive pushes news alerts. And so on.
1:46 PM
Now Sukhar is talking about the Internet of Things. For instance, a garage door that sends a signal to your phone when it's open or closed. Parse has a new set of tools for developers to interact with these little sensors that are popping up everywhere.
1:47 PM
They're announcing a lot of other things that will be of interest only to developers.
Details will be on the Parse Blog soon, Sukhar says.
1:48 PM
Deborah Liu is now on stage. She's the director of Facebook's platform business.
1:49 PM
"I am a voracious reader of parenting articles online." But she wanted to comment on it on HuffPo, but also have it show up on Facebook.
1:49 PM
Voila! Now that's possible. People see comments in both places at once.
1:53 PM
Liu introduces Facebook Analytics for Apps. New tools to help developers understand how people are using their apps. What they're doing, where they're dropping off, and so on.
1:55 PM
"Finally, we want to help you monetize your app." Last year introduced Audience Network, a way for devs to display ads in app.
1:56 PM
"The best part of the Audience Network is native ads." These are ads that appear right in the app, and seem like part of them. "Ads now support the user experience, not interrupt it."
1:58 PM
Live Rail. New ad platform that extends native ads.
1:59 PM
And that's a wrap! Over in an hour.
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