At its annual F8 Developers Conference yesterday morning, Facebook launched the Messenger Platform, bringing new integration and methods of information sharing (read: GIFs) to the company's messaging experience. Over 40 apps are already available, with plenty more on the way. But which are worth your time?
You've already got more Messenger power-up options than you likely need, so we sifted through pile to see which ones deserve a place in your phone in the gallery above.
As for how to use the new apps, it's simple. When you're in the Messenger app, simply select the '...' option above the keyboard in a message. You'll be able to choose, download and use the integrated apps from there.
You may have noticed that most of these apps---as well as the rest of the field---are highly GIF-centric. Which makes sense! Messenger has leaned on words and stickers this whole time, so adding video (looping or otherwise) is a natural evolution. But even if none of these has much appeal to you now, it's not hard to imagine other potential Messenger tie-ins worth waiting for. Unlikely suspects like the Weather Channel---which wasn't available at the time of our testing---will continue to put a unique spin on traditional photo sharing, in this case by overlaying weather conditions. Other future apps will likely create one-off experiences, like Ditty's text-to-song, that range from goofy to bizarre. There's plenty of potential to be realized.
The reality is we don't know just how far developers can take the Messenger Platform; it's not even two days old yet. For now, though, at least a handful of them are off to a great start.
