Facebook has been really busy at its annual F8 developers conference. The social network has just announced that communications app Messenger now feature chatbots, integrating artificial intelligence into the app to be able to provide users with content and customer service.
The announcements have not yet stopped, it seems, as Facebook has unveiled the Profile Expression Kit, a tool that will allow third-party developers to allow videos taken on their apps to be used as profile videos on the social network.
Apps that incorporate the Profile Expression Kit will allow users to upload the videos that they take using the app as a Facebook profile video with only a few taps. As for the app's developers, they will enjoy attribution within Facebook's News Feed for each time that a user uploads a profile video using their app.
Mobile video is rapidly widening its presence on the Internet, with Facebook's Chris Cox stating at the F8 conference that 70 percent of mobile Internet is expected to be made up of video in just a few years. The move by Facebook to launch the Profile Expression Kit sees the company looking to take advantage of the trend, while allowing the social network's users with more options to express themselves.
The profile videos that are uploaded using the SDK can be chosen as a temporary or permanent one by users, with Facebook adding a timer feature on such videos. Users will also be able to choose a thumbnail of their uploaded profile video to be displayed on integrated apps, including Spotify and Tinder, that do not automatically play videos.
According to a post on the Facebook Developers blog, the SDK has now been made available to beta partners for iOS app, including Instagram's Boomerang, MSQRD, BeautyPlus, lollicam, Flixel's Cinemagraph Pro and Vine. For the Android versions of partner apps, the SDK will be rolled out over the coming weeks.
Facebook also invited developers that are creating or have already created a video app to learn more about the Profile Expression Kit on its dedicated page, as well as apply to be considered as a tester for the SDK.
