You've BOT to be kidding me!

Lets get up to speed with ChatBots.

Chatbot is: Customer service and support in an automated form disguised to feel like a human. These bots are going to get smart really fast as end-users keep feeding them their information, which the bots will catalogue for future use.

There are 900 million active users per month using Messenger App and is the number 1 way to communicate around the world, statistically. The smart phone has become the centre of our lives. Messaging is the number one activity we do on our smart phones. How can you, as a business take advantage of this?

There are more than 50 million businesses on Facebook. From your local favourite restaurant to the giants in the market, customers are communicating with these businesses sending more than 1 billion messages every month.

It’s a communication that is instant, keeps context and establishes a permanent thread between you and your customer, which is so valuable these days and is growing exponentially. Messaging between businesses and customers over the last 12 months has nearly DOUBLED.

We are in the middle of a huge parallel shift of how people are communicating to businesses. In response, businesses are creating conversational experiences that offer rich, personalized ways to interact.

How does it work and what can you build on it?

• Automated subscription   content
• Weather & Traffic updates
• Customized communication such as receipts, shipping notifications & live automated messaging

Essentially, how Chatbots work is through a send/receive API that connects you with your customer. This can be a combination of automated responses, bots, as well as human interaction.

Together, a business can create a superb customer service experience. One that is tailor-made for them. The messages you send can take various forms. You can send text, images and templates. Flexible templates offer structured text and functionality, like call to action buttons.

This is where the magic happens. For example, say you confirm an order with your customer; you could give them an option to track the shipment or maybe change the colour of their item. You could add an image too. The appearance looks professional and creates that cutting edge so many businesses are striving for.  

Here are a few examples of what Bots can actually do:

A shopping experience:

Bots create conversations that are instant, interactive, proactive and personal. Think about shopping online, how tedious the whole process is. Spring, cleverly used messenger API and the conversational interface to create a new way of selling to customers online.  The system can match similar options to previous browsing and buying behavior and recommend them to your customer. Using bot technology, the customer can then converse via Messenger asking questions about the product.. At this point, messenger API is pinging Live Messaging Tools. Based on information fed to the bots from previous experiences, the bot will reply to your customer which will then close the deal with your potential customer and you would have earned a sale effortlessly.

Daily Behaviour:

Checking the weather, news and ordering a cup of coffee may be part of our daily routine. How do Bots come in here? Today we sought after information rather than that information proactively coming to us. Use messenger app to ask CNN, what is the latest update with regards to #zumamustfall? Messenger then responds with a quick summary of the latest updates.

Measuring and Intelligence? NO PROBLEM!

A simple CMS tool is used to measure the length and frequency that the bot is communicating with your customer. This makes the timing and response perfect, just as if your customer is having a natural conversation (natural pacing).

An emotional index scores a person’s attitude. Let’s say your customer is rude, the bot will detect this and dynamically adapt to keep the relationship with your customer.

It is a little hesitant on how smart the chatbots can actually get, there is a limit they say. With hundreds of languages, so many unique customers and customer inquiries, customer expectation will increase which in turn puts more pressure on you as a company. To provide a true and exceptional customer experience, rely not only on the smart bots but also on the human ingredient too.

Here are 5 AMAZING and USEFUL chatbots we are using right now:

1. Travel bot :  

• Instalocate - is a chatbot for Facebook Messenger that can track flights by flight number and notifies travelers about delays.

2. Entertainment bots: 

• Guggy - Replies with Gifs and Stickers saying the text you send it 
• Icon8 - Turn your images into an artwork.
• EshterBot - Learn about a person, then take quizzes and play games (the company suggests to transforms your resume into a bot) 
• Sequel Stories - Choose from several stories, read and slightly affect the story

3. Ecommerce bot: 

• ChatShopper - The first ecommerce fashion and shopping chatbot for Facebook Messenger, ChatShopper asks users about their fashion taste and replies back with the product suggestions.

4. News bots: 

• TechCrunch - The TechCrunch chatbot for Messenger helps you stay on top of the topics and stories you care about. You can subscribe to different topics, authors, or sections of the site, and the bot will send you news articles from TechCrunch about the things you are interested in the most.
• DIGG - Delivers the most interesting and talked about stories on the internet right now.
• CNN - Instant breaking news alerts and most talked about stories. Just ask it anything actually.

5. Information Bot:

• Poncho — Sends daily weather, with each weather forecast you get additional quick options.

ENJOY... :) 

How to Diversify your Facebook's news feed...

The Facebook algorithm's only mission is to keep you engaged with Facebook.

...but do Facebook's users bear some of that responsibility, too? The site's algorithm is complex, and inherently adaptive; it serves up content based on your behavior—after all, its only mission is keeping you online or for lack of better words HOOKED.

Here are a few straightforward ways you can get a news feed with a more diverse point of view, and pop that filter bubble.

1. Don't unfriend people based on their beliefs.

We get it, you're mad. Post all the rage you need to, commiserate with friends in comments, and even take a break from social media for a while. But don't unfriend Facebook friends because they don't share your worldview—even if you find that worldview distasteful or even dangerous. Unfriending people on Facebook doesn't make them go away, invalidate their beliefs, or convince anyone of yours.

Unfriending is, to borrow an apt metaphor, the digital equivalent of building a wall. It's a wall that'll create a safe space for you and the people you choose to let in, sure—but until you go beyond it, there's no way to know how big and passionate the group on the other side is. Or what they're thinking, and how they're articulating it.

If you still aren't comfortable being "friends" with someone whose beliefs you consider reprehensible, there is, actually, an alternative: Unfriend them, but make sure you follow them to make sure their posts will still appear in your news feed.

2. Don't delete comments you don't like.

The thing about political commentary is there's always someone who disagrees with you. The act of putting forward a point of view on Facebook (which is certainly encouraged) has an implicit invitation of commentary and, yes, criticism. It really doesn't matter if you post publicly or privately to a group of friends: You're speaking, and people are entitled to respond. If you don't like those responses, reply, debate and clarify, but do not silence them.

Big distinction here: There's a world of difference between engaging in a discussion, however spirited, and hate speech. If someone responds to your posts with, say, racist or sexist epithets, then delete/unfriend/block away. Otherwise...

3. Engage with those you disagree with.

It's easy to dismiss the posts in your news feed that represent the other side as you scroll by them in the news feed. It's slightly harder to ignore the people commenting on your posts with serious disagreements, but not much. To get out of your filter bubble, do both. 

Once a day, click on a link that you disagree with. When someone argues with you in a comment, before you even respond (and do respond), hit "Like" on that comment, even if you disagree. It's not an endorsement (or at least: it doesn't have to be). It actually signals to Facebook you're engaging with the comment and the person, and will steer content your way appropriately. 

4. Read the comments on your friends' posts.

There will be people disagreeing in the comments. Engage with them. Maybe even follow them.

5. Follow media outlets you disagree with.

This goes without saying, but: Don't follow extremist or radical groups with offensive belief systems. That said, it won't kill you to follow Fox News (or, from the other side, the Huffington Post). Look at the sites, publications and personalities you follow that support your worldview, then ask yourself what their equivalent is on the other side. Be selective in your following, but do follow. And engage.

6. Read before you share.

Don't tell anyone, but it's a dirty little secret of media that websites sometimes write misleading or hyperbolic headlines. Before you slam that share button, read what you're sharing, to make sure it really substantiates its claims. Otherwise, you'll simply be polishing the inside of your bubble, and it'll be even harder to see beyond the reflected nodding faces of you and your friends.

7. Flag fake news.

There have been many calls for Facebook to do something about fake news on its site, and it should. But you don't have to wait for them—you can do something about fake news stories the moment you see them. Go to the drop-down arrow in the top right, go down to Report post > I think it shouldn't be on Facebook > It's a false news story.

If you're already familiar with this box, you should probably stop (or at least go easy on) using the "It's annoying or distasteful" and "It goes against my views" options. Blocking things for going against your views is exactly what makes your filter bubble grow. That is, until it gets so big, and the forces on the other side so strong, that the entire thing implodes. Sound familiar?