Facebook opens Messenger app to chatbots

San Francisco

TO browse for a pair of brown loafers on Facebook Messenger, you can now text a message to the service to begin a conversation with the mobile shopping startup Spring. Spring will ask you for a preferred price range for the shoes and show a smattering of what it thinks you might like. If the selection elicits yawns, Spring will try some different options.

The experience is akin to chatting with a friend, "the one whose taste you always trust while you're shopping", said Alan Tisch, chief executive of Spring.