It’s crucial now for people to have access to true and accurate information as the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Several tech companies are coming up with ways to help out organizations in their information campaign. Facebook has now announced that they are teaming up with developers to support government health organizations in streamlining their response to the public through Messenger. They’re also coming up with a hackathon to get developers to build messaging solutions that will be appropriate to the world’s current situation.
Messenger is probably one of the most used messaging apps now as people are stuck in their houses and can communicate online only. Facebook is now launching a global program to bring developers to government health organizations and UN health agencies so that they can use Messenger to bring information to concerned citizens. Their developer partners are offering their services for free to they can help automate some of the responses, how to share updates more effectively, and how to transition from automation to live chats.
Some of the organizations that are already benefitting from this are Argentina’s Ministry of Health, Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, and UNICEF. Facebook is also making it possible for government health organizations and UN health agencies to send important updates related to COVID-19 to people who are already messaging them. It’s important during times like this that important information cuts through all the noise.
Facebook is also partnering with hackathon provider Devpost to start an online hackathon for the Messenger platform. The goal is to build global and local solutions through Messenger to address COVID-19-related concerns like work from home, social distancing, online education, etc. Those who will participate will receive unique access to Messenger-related content and information, Facebook live tutorials with product experts, and other educational materials.
If you’re a developer who’s interested in these Messenger-related projects, you can subscribe to the Facebook for Developers newsletter. Hopefully, these efforts will help organizations disseminate accurate information and eventually, it will also help us adjust to a new kind of normal.
