Soon you can order flowers or get the news on Facebook Messenger - CNET

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Here come the bots.

Facebook said it's going to start allowing companies to build chatty programs designed to, well, chat with its users. Think of it as an early version of Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons -- without the robot part. They're called "bots" in techie speak, and you use them by opening Facebook's Messenger app on your phone, find one of these little programs by searching for the name of the business, and begin typing a message.

Some early companies building apps include CNN, which can automatically send a list of stories on Messenger. If someone wants to know more about a topic, like the Zika virus, they just ask CNN and it will. Same with 1-800 Flowers -- it will send a list of flower suggestions, and if you want one, just respond and say who to send it to.

"You don't have to install an app or enter your credit card," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the company's "F8" developer conference in San Francisco this week. "To order 1-800-Flowers, you never have to call 1-800-Flowers again."

Bots have become one of the hottest new things in the tech world, grabbing the attention of giants like Microsoft and business-software maker Slack, in addition to Facebook. The idea is to get people using various services without having to surf to a site or download an app. Now, they just find a bot and chat.