Facebook advances new era in which information comes to you, no humans required

Facebook now wants to expand your social circle in its messaging app, Messenger, beyond friends to include chatbots, which are designed to shop, search and generally just get things done for you.

"It's not completely weird for people 35 or younger to interact with machines," said EMarketer analyst Yory Wurmser. "The freakout factor is gone."

Though seemingly unfriendly, chatbots, or bots for short, are just software systems that simulate conversations. And, thanks to your smartphone, you probably already encounter a handful of different bots every day, as Wurmser suggested. Take Apple's Siri, Google Now or Amazon's Alexa, the virtual assistant that powers the e-commerce giant's Echo device. Other bots are even more commonplace, say automated text messages confirming a package shipment.