Here's how bots work on Facebook Messenger

Facebook's Messenger bots have finally arrived. 

Following months of rumors, the company revealed its plan to allow businesses to build bots for Messenger Tuesday at Facebook's F8 developer conference in San Francisco. 

Though the developers in attendance are only just getting a closer look at how these bots will work, Facebook has already been working with a few dozen partners whose bots are now live on Messenger. 

Finding a bot

The easiest way to find bots on Facebook is by searching from within the Messenger app. Simply type a business into the search bar at the top of Messenger. But you can also access bots by scanning a business' Messenger Code by clicking on a Messenger Link — custom URLs that deep link back to message threads within Messenger. (Facebook introduced both of these features last week just prior to F8.)  Read more...