This week during Facebook’s F8 Developers conference they released the new Chat Extensions feature for the Facebook Messenger platform. This is great news for the Food Network and foodies alike! Now users will be able to use the Food Network bot to integrate recipes suggestions, inspiration, and meal planning into their everyday Messenger conversations with family and friends. This means no more back and forth texting on what to bring to a potluck with a group of friends or family for instance.
Food Network users can search for recipes and share them in their Facebook Messenger conversation with just a few taps. The recipe will display in the conversation with an image of the dish, the title, the chef, and the overall user rating. This not only cuts down on time spent deciding what to make with a group, it gives you more time to cook instead of being stuck in text land. It has happened to all of us, the endless back and forth of what to bring or make and by the end of the group text there is more confusion and not a solution.
“The Food Network bot for Messenger update allows us to expand our distribution partnership with Facebook in a new and innovative way to better serve consumers with content that’s fun and inspiring,” said Suzanne Underwald, senior vice president of business and legal affairs and content distribution and marketing for Scripps Networks Interactive.
“We are pleased that Food Network and Scripps Lifestyle Studios have integrated Chat Extensions into the Food Network bot for Messenger,” said Stan Chudnovsky, vice president of product for Messenger. “By integrating Chat Extension functionality, people on Messenger will experience more visual and interactive ways to chat about what dishes they are craving.”
“Food and recipe ideas are a part of everyday conversations,” said Liesel Kipp, vice president of product management for Scripps Lifestyle Studios, which handles Food Network’s digital ventures, “and this Messenger update makes it even easier for Food Network users to search for and share our trusted recipes with their friends and family. This new feature from Messenger will allow Food Network to continue interacting with our audience on this platform in engaging and useful new ways.”
The Food Network bot for Messenger Initially launched in November 2016 with the intent to help customers chat about and browse through more than 60,000 trusted Food Network recipes by key ingredient, level of difficulty, their favorite chef, and what ingredients they currently have in their home. The bot has a dish for every cook at any level. All recipes are housed on FoodNetwork.com and are curated by professional chefs and Food Network talent and staff.
This is one of many announcements and updates at the Facebook’s F8 Developers conference that are rolling out so keep checking back for more F8 news!
ABOUT FOOD NETWORK (foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers’ best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to nearly 100 million U.S. households and draws over 46 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine’s rate base has grown 13 times and is the #2 best-selling monthly magazine on the newsstand, with 13.9 million readers. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24-hour networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Scripps Networks Interactive (Nasdaq: SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (cookingchanneltv.com), HGTV (hgtv.com), DIY Network (diynetwork.com), Travel Channel (travelchannel.com) and Great American Country (gactv.com), is the manager and general partner.
ABOUT SCRIPPS LIFESTYLE STUDIOS
Launched in December 2015, Scripps Lifestyle Studios is a digital business division of Scripps Networks Interactive, created to drive digital content innovation and advertising solutions. In 2016, Scripps Lifestyle Studios delivered over 5 billion total video views across various digital platforms and has achieved an average of 812 million video views and 356 million visitors across its platforms in the early months of 2017. Combining the digital content operations of HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Great American Country, and Food.com, this full service editorial unit spearheads development of compelling lifestyle experiences across social media, apps, websites, third party offerings, and more. Scripps Lifestyle Studios operates physical locations through the Food Network Kitchen in New York and the HGTV Studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. For more information, visit scrippslifestylestudios.com.
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Source: Food Network, F8, Facebook, Scripps Lifestyle Studios
