Uber is Facebook Messenger’s first transportation partner, but the company says there are more announcements to come in the future.
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The new feature, announced by both companies Wednesday, allows Facebook to keep its captive audience – Facebook Messenger now has 700 million monthly active users – while giving Uber exposure to a potential pool of new customers. There’s no way to split the fare between multiple passengers, but you can send money to friends separately through Messenger.
“This is a ideal incarnation of the type of functionality that we want to bring into Messenger going forward”, Facebook vice president of messaging products David Marcus told BuzzFeed News.
Facebook and Uber would not comment on possible revenue share with the new feature, but Facebook does plan to get into more offerings from businesses via Messenger. In China, consumers use WeChat to accomplish everything from booking a train ticket to getting their laundry done to, yes, ordering a auto (likely from Didi Kuaidi, the biggest competitor to Uber in the country). Eventually, the social network plans to offer access to more transportation services within Messenger. That immediately pulled an in-app screen that either prompted new Uber users to sign up or existing customers to simply fill out the details of their ride. The integration is powered by Uber’s API, which the company is making available to app developers worldwide through its Strategic Partnerships initiative.
In a group chat, users get an alert that you’ve ordered a ride, and if you wish, you can share a map of your ride location-so your friends or coworkers are sure you’re really on your way to dinner or that crucial business meeting.
Uber and Facebook have been working on the feature for the past few months.
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“A lot of the other things that are happening in Asia, it just so happens that everybody is on a messaging app and then they create a platform that uses mainly HTML 5 and embedded web flows, which honestly wouldn’t be palatable for the West”, he tells Mashable, noting that expectations for user experience and app design differ in Asia and the U.S. You either start a conversation with Uber and tap a vehicle icon on the menu that runs along the bottom edge of the app, or tap on “More” (the last icon on the menu that looks like an ellipses) to order a ride from there.
