Last week at F8, Facebook announced that it was opening up Messenger to developers through a new program, ‘Messenger Platform.’
One of the initial partners, The Weather Channel will now allow users of its app to share photos directly to Messenger. Users can overlay weather information on top of photos based on where the photo was taken, and then share it via Messenger (or via text or email).
“Weather is one of the biggest factors when taking a photo to share on Facebook or with your friends. Half the fun of taking a picture is sharing it, even bragging a little, and we’re happy to encourage that within The Weather Channel app,” said Nikki Santoro, vice president of product and design at The Weather Channel. “Our new feature helps tell your story through the lens of weather, and showing the world that It’s Amazing Out There.”
More and more, people are using other means to share photos and video – including the Facebook-owned Instagram, but also Snapchat and Meerkat – and so Facebook is trying to recapture market share for its native messaging app. The company began a serious API push at the last F8, and this year’s announcements show a commitment from Facebook to allow developers to build products that will be beneficial for their own needs.
