Benjamin Hoguet on CMF Trends wonders ‘How can chatbots be used to tell stories?‘

Chatbots, or bots, give the impression of a personalized online experience. Interacting with a bot replicates a real world one-on-one exchange, depending on the quality of the AI programming. Just ask Siri, the most famous bot, “How many Apple Store geniuses does it take to screw in a lightbulb?’ or ‘Is Santa real?’ or ‘Tell me a story.”

According to Hoguet:

“It’s the democratization of chatbots that is revolutionary because today anyone can create his or her own chatbot and upload it to a Facebook page, for example.”

He recommends two tools, ChatFuel or PullString.

“‘Narrative chatbots’ are only just beginning to appear. A lot of them set themselves apart only by their capacity to show us what not to do, but that’s the advantage of pioneering projects: to help develop codes and a grammar for those who will follow in their footsteps. Conversing with fictional characters is today’s predominant use of narrative bots.”

Hoguet envisions “the eventual arrival of bot stores. Just like app stores, they will definitely contribute to elevating chatbots to the level of full-fledged distribution platforms.”

My take: this is worth noticing because the top four messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Viber) have surpassed the top four social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) in monthly users, according to Business Insider UK. For instance, imagine if Tom Thomson’s tweets were a (messenger) dialogue rather than a (Twitter) broadcast.