How to Find and Use a Facebook Chatbot

Like so many of its rivals, it was rumored for a few months that Facebook would introduce chatbots. Yesterday at the F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg finally unveiled them for Facebook Messenger. But how can you can get into a conversation with your favorite brand? Read on.

The short answer is search. The search box in the Facebook Messenger apps and the Web-based version have the feature; you can't search for bots from within Facebook, even on the desktop. But when you search on mobile for something like Uber or 1-800-Flowers, it shows up under the heading "Bots and Businesses."

uber bot search on facebook messenger

The bot typically has a Messenger symbol, the little lightning-bolt in the blue circle, the same used to alert you to friends who are active on the service.

However, chatbots are so new that not all the bots show up in search and behave as they should. I found Uber and 1-800-Flowers within Messenger, but not CNN. But hey, it's the first day. It's only going to get easier to find bots, and they'll likely proliferate quickly so enjoy the calm before the storm.

If you can't wait, there's a site called Botlist that has taken up the mantle of "App Store for Bots," listing any and all chatbots available (it's where I found CNN). Not just on Facebook Messenger, but also via email, iPhone, Kik, Slack, SMS text, and more. It already has a list of 40 chatbots available for Messenger including major brands like Wall Street Journal, Dropbox, Giphy, and many other up-and-comers.

Botlist (facebook messenger Bots)

If you see a brand on Botlist that you want to chat with, tap it, then tap at the top on the link labeled "m.me"—that's a short URL that anyone can use to quickly get to Facebook Messenger. I tried it with Operator, a shopping recommendation bot that I'd never heard of until today (it also works via an iPhone app of its own). After a quick "hi" from me, the Operator bot shot back a welcome and suggested I search by sending it emojis of what I want (I did not reply with the poop emoji). It showed me links for this week's curated shopping picks, plus suggestions for Mother's Day and other needs I didn't even know I had.

Bots can reply with more than just text—there are entire carousels of images and links served up to you, the potential customer.

operator bot on facebook messenger

Don't expect too much, though. We're not exactly talking quick-learning bots like Microsoft's (sometimes racist) Tay. I asked the CNN bot to stop sending me stories on Trump. It replied:

cnn bot reply on facebook messenger

Want more ways to get the most out of chat? Read Cool Tricks and Secret Gems Inside Facebook Messenger.

About Our Expert

Eric Griffith

Senior Editor, Features

My Experience

I've been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).

I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it's not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I'd have a future.

In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale," according to Publishers' Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.

I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.

The Technology I Use

My first computer was a Laser 128, an Apple II-compatible clone with an integrated keyboard, matched with an eye-straining monochrome green monitor. I used it to type papers in college for other people for money...until I discovered the Mac SE in the college computer room. That changed my life. My first cellphone was a Samsung Uproar—the silver one with the built-in MP3 player from the Napster days (the pre-iPod era).

I use an iPhone 15 Pro hourly and an iPad Air infrequently (but I'm always in the market for a cheap Android tablet). I have a PlayStation 5 just to play Spider-Man, and several Windows machines, including a work-issued Lenovo ThinkPad. I talk to Alexa and Siri all day long. I do the majority of my computing on a 15-inch LG Gram laptop attached to a Thunderbolt hub to run a multi-monitor setup—I overdid it on the power needed to simply work from home.

I'm most at home in Microsoft Word after decades of writing there. More and more, I turn to services like Google Docs, using tools like Grammarly. I use Google's Chrome browser due to an addiction to several extensions I think I can't live without, but probably could. I use Excel extensively on data-intensive stories, but for chart creation, we've switched over entirely to using Infogram for interactive features that are hard to find elsewhere. I do a lot of graphics work for my stories, but limit myself to the free and amazing Paint.NET software to edit images.

I'm a firm evangelist for using the cloud for backup and syncing of files; I'm primarily using Dropbox, which has never failed me, but I also have redundant setups on Microsoft OneDrive, plus extra picture backups on Amazon Photos and iCloud. Why take chances? For entertainment, mine is a streaming-only household—my kid has never seen network TV and barely been exposed to commercials, thanks to Roku and Amazon Music. The house is peppered with smart speakers from Amazon for instant gratification and control of smart home devices like multiple Wyze cameras and Nest Protect smoke detectors. I've got accounts on all the major social networks, to my horror. I have a robot vacuum for each floor of the house. I want a 3D printer, but not sure what I'd use it for.

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