🕷 Marvel's Spider Man has a new bot!!
Fictional characters are becoming a hot space for bots. Humani, Barbie, Doctor Strange, Hearthstone, Doctor Who, it's really booming!
This new #botoftheweek from Marvel shares action shots from the comic book and directs you to answer questions and decipher riddles. It also asks you to share your location, so the bot can tell you where to go to “report for duty” to fight an evil army (a.k.a direct you to a local store where you can buy the comic book 😉).
👏 Great concept, good UX, nice content. 9/10.
Chat with the bot - https://m.me/spiderman/
Fictional characters are becoming a hot space for bots. Humani, Barbie, Doctor Strange, Hearthstone, Doctor Who, it's really booming!
This new #botoftheweek from Marvel shares action shots from the comic book and directs you to answer questions and decipher riddles. It also asks you to share your location, so the bot can tell you where to go to “report for duty” to fight an evil army (a.k.a direct you to a local store where you can buy the comic book 😉).
👏 Great concept, good UX, nice content. 9/10.
Chat with the bot - https://m.me/spiderman/
👏 Improve your bot design changing a few words!
Chatbot design today is like web design in 1996. Crappy. But it's just the beginning.
We need more examples, more good cases.
Look at the image below. The bot on the right has personality, sets user expectations about its scope, and, by providing examples, clarifies what the next step is.
Curious to learn more tricks? Read the article, really helpful.
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://blog.botsociety.io/chatbot-design-today-is-like-web-design-in-1996-b5d3b09794b0
Chatbot design today is like web design in 1996. Crappy. But it's just the beginning.
We need more examples, more good cases.
Look at the image below. The bot on the right has personality, sets user expectations about its scope, and, by providing examples, clarifies what the next step is.
Curious to learn more tricks? Read the article, really helpful.
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://blog.botsociety.io/chatbot-design-today-is-like-web-design-in-1996-b5d3b09794b0
Want to Easily Create a FAQ Bot? Try this service from Microsoft!
Microsoft has launched a service for businesses to quickly and easily create a FAQ bot customers can chat with inside Bing search results.
What's cool here??
The simple creation of a bot based on Bing Places information provides businesses with a less technical way to enhance their online presence.
The new bots-for-businesses service is currently only available to restaurants: Bing business bot is already partnering with top restaurants.
However, Microsoft expressed an interest in bringing bots to other sectors at Build.
I hope it will be soon!
⌚ 2 min read (kinda short)
https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/22/microsoft-is-helping-restaurants-cook-up-their-own-bots/
Microsoft has launched a service for businesses to quickly and easily create a FAQ bot customers can chat with inside Bing search results.
What's cool here??
The simple creation of a bot based on Bing Places information provides businesses with a less technical way to enhance their online presence.
The new bots-for-businesses service is currently only available to restaurants: Bing business bot is already partnering with top restaurants.
However, Microsoft expressed an interest in bringing bots to other sectors at Build.
I hope it will be soon!
⌚ 2 min read (kinda short)
https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/22/microsoft-is-helping-restaurants-cook-up-their-own-bots/
VentureBeat
Microsoft is helping restaurants cook up their own bots
Microsoft has launched a service for businesses to quickly and easily create a FAQ bot customers can chat with inside Bing search results. The Bing Business Bot service begins by asking a business …
🙌 Botanalytics partners with Motion AI!
Motion AI is one of the easiest solutions to build, train and deploy chatbots.
With the Botanalytics integration, Motion AI users can further observe the experience with information extracted from analytics metrics.
If you're a bot developer who uses Motion AI platform, it's a must for you!
⌚️ 3 min read (announcement)
https://botanalytics.co/blog/2017/05/23/motion-ai-botanalytics-partner/
Not on Motion AI? Here's a list of all platforms, choose one and enjoy!
Motion AI is one of the easiest solutions to build, train and deploy chatbots.
With the Botanalytics integration, Motion AI users can further observe the experience with information extracted from analytics metrics.
If you're a bot developer who uses Motion AI platform, it's a must for you!
⌚️ 3 min read (announcement)
https://botanalytics.co/blog/2017/05/23/motion-ai-botanalytics-partner/
Not on Motion AI? Here's a list of all platforms, choose one and enjoy!
Botanalytics
Motion AI and Botanalytics Partner to Improve Conversational Flows
Motion AI, one of the well-known platforms for building chatbots, partners with Botanalytics, a fast-growing leading chatbot analytics platform.
Kik announced plans to launch a new cryptocurrency built on top of the Etherium blockchain called Kin
Once it’s up and running, each Kik user will get a Kin wallet and opportunities to earn Kin for being part of the community. The currency can be exchanged for products, goods, and services within the chat app and any others that adopt the currency.
To oversee the cryptocurrency — both its administrative core tasks and its growth — Kik also announced the creation of the Kin Foundation. Its presence will provide assurance that people can participate in a Kin economy that is not and can never be monopolized by a giant company.
This path leads to a future that is compelling for consumers, and open and fair for developers.
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://medium.com/kinfoundation/announcing-kin-a-cryptocurrency-for-an-open-future-98f1da2f498a
Learn more about Kin - https://kin.kik.com/
Once it’s up and running, each Kik user will get a Kin wallet and opportunities to earn Kin for being part of the community. The currency can be exchanged for products, goods, and services within the chat app and any others that adopt the currency.
To oversee the cryptocurrency — both its administrative core tasks and its growth — Kik also announced the creation of the Kin Foundation. Its presence will provide assurance that people can participate in a Kin economy that is not and can never be monopolized by a giant company.
This path leads to a future that is compelling for consumers, and open and fair for developers.
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://medium.com/kinfoundation/announcing-kin-a-cryptocurrency-for-an-open-future-98f1da2f498a
Learn more about Kin - https://kin.kik.com/
Medium
Announcing Kin, a Cryptocurrency for an Open Future
Building a new ecosystem of digital services, together
🚴 Do you like cycling?
If your answer is yes, you'll like the #botoftheweek too!
Bikemap Bot searches 10 routes for cycling next to your location out of our more than 3.2M routes in 80+ countries which were uploaded by users. It helps you to find a perfect cycle route for your next ride.
The bot is still in beta but it works pretty stable, UX is super simple and content is regularly updated. Worth trying.
Bikemap Bot is available on Messenger now.
Try the bot - https://m.me/bikemap
If your answer is yes, you'll like the #botoftheweek too!
Bikemap Bot searches 10 routes for cycling next to your location out of our more than 3.2M routes in 80+ countries which were uploaded by users. It helps you to find a perfect cycle route for your next ride.
The bot is still in beta but it works pretty stable, UX is super simple and content is regularly updated. Worth trying.
Bikemap Bot is available on Messenger now.
Try the bot - https://m.me/bikemap
😮 Want to know how to get a million users to your bot?
Instant Translator is a great example for you!
A very simple bot that was made only to demo bots to corporates has evolved into the biggest translation bot on Facebook. Now it has almost 1 million signed on users on Facebook and 600k monthly active users.
Not bad, really?
Here's a story behind it, including their growth, features, launch and many more.
⌚️ 4 min read (good read)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/how-instant-translator-bot-got-1-million-users-27089533df32
P.S Feel free to try it on Facebook or Viber and give feedback in our public chat
Instant Translator is a great example for you!
A very simple bot that was made only to demo bots to corporates has evolved into the biggest translation bot on Facebook. Now it has almost 1 million signed on users on Facebook and 600k monthly active users.
Not bad, really?
Here's a story behind it, including their growth, features, launch and many more.
⌚️ 4 min read (good read)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/how-instant-translator-bot-got-1-million-users-27089533df32
P.S Feel free to try it on Facebook or Viber and give feedback in our public chat
Chatbots Magazine
How Instant Translator Bot Got 1 Million Users
Used by more than 50k users daily on Facebook & Viber, this bot has over 600k active monthly users.
💬 Twitter is reshaping the customer experience through chatbots!
Twitter has recently launched a customizable Direct Message Card that businesses can use to promote and share bots and other customer experiences built in Direct Messages. This new card will help businesses drive discovery of such experiences both through Promoted Tweets and organic sharing.
Using a Direct Message Card, businesses can capture people's attention with engaging image or video creatives, and include up to four fully customizable call-to-action buttons. The latest development for Twitter has been introduced after the platform faces rigor competition from alternative advertising apps like Microsoft, Facebook and Google.
Seems like Twitter is going huge on chatbots in order to grow their ad revenue. But it’s a good sign for all us to start building something cool on the updated platform 😉
⌚️ 4 min read (again)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/twitter-adds-chat-bots-to-direct-messages-219e510c0cb6
Twitter has recently launched a customizable Direct Message Card that businesses can use to promote and share bots and other customer experiences built in Direct Messages. This new card will help businesses drive discovery of such experiences both through Promoted Tweets and organic sharing.
Using a Direct Message Card, businesses can capture people's attention with engaging image or video creatives, and include up to four fully customizable call-to-action buttons. The latest development for Twitter has been introduced after the platform faces rigor competition from alternative advertising apps like Microsoft, Facebook and Google.
Seems like Twitter is going huge on chatbots in order to grow their ad revenue. But it’s a good sign for all us to start building something cool on the updated platform 😉
⌚️ 4 min read (again)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/twitter-adds-chat-bots-to-direct-messages-219e510c0cb6
Chatbots Magazine
Twitter Adds Chat Bots to Direct Messages
Twitter is changing! It recently launched a “Direct Message Card” that will help advertisers promote effectively, allowing customer…
🤔 Why does your bot need a personality?
Because we design for humans.
Building a rich and detailed personality makes your bot more relatable, believable, and relevant to your users.
Here’s a great article on how can you personalise bot conversations to be more life-like, intimate, and representative of human interaction. Must read.
⌚️ 11 min read (quite big, but really useful)
https://blog.prototypr.io/a-guide-to-developing-bot-personalities-c6eba213d77b
Because we design for humans.
Building a rich and detailed personality makes your bot more relatable, believable, and relevant to your users.
Here’s a great article on how can you personalise bot conversations to be more life-like, intimate, and representative of human interaction. Must read.
⌚️ 11 min read (quite big, but really useful)
https://blog.prototypr.io/a-guide-to-developing-bot-personalities-c6eba213d77b
Prototypr
A guide to developing bot personalities.
Personality is the new UX.
Starting today, Instagram supports a brand new type of ads — conversational ads, otherwise, Messenger bots promotion.
Now when user clicks on an Instagram messenger-specific ad, it automatically opens Messenger bot, where he gets a personalized message with content that ad manager previously included in Ads Manager interface.
Do you smell the opportunity? 😉
With this new exciting feature you can create a real conversation with end users and automate some business tasks! It’s smart, it’s focused on a specific action, and it doesn’t require humans on the other side.
The feature will be rolling out in the next few months, can’t wait to test! 😍
https://medium.com/@flreln/how-to-get-clients-from-messenger-using-new-instagram-ads-22c25d81a057
Now when user clicks on an Instagram messenger-specific ad, it automatically opens Messenger bot, where he gets a personalized message with content that ad manager previously included in Ads Manager interface.
Do you smell the opportunity? 😉
With this new exciting feature you can create a real conversation with end users and automate some business tasks! It’s smart, it’s focused on a specific action, and it doesn’t require humans on the other side.
The feature will be rolling out in the next few months, can’t wait to test! 😍
https://medium.com/@flreln/how-to-get-clients-from-messenger-using-new-instagram-ads-22c25d81a057
Medium
How to Get Clients From Messenger Using New Instagram Ads?
Starting today, Instagram supports a brand new type of ads — conversational ads, otherwise, Messenger bots promotion.
👏 11 good industries for chatbots.
Millions of people already use bots. They are using it for entertainment, shopping, scheduling and much more.
So there are nearly limitless possibilities for what can be done with chatbots. Tons of industries.
But which of them can help you to take more advantages from creating and selling your bot?
Have a look at these cool examples featured in Inc. magazine to understand what to build next!
⌚ 3 min read (kinda short)
https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/11-interesting-examples-of-how-to-use-chatbots.html
Millions of people already use bots. They are using it for entertainment, shopping, scheduling and much more.
So there are nearly limitless possibilities for what can be done with chatbots. Tons of industries.
But which of them can help you to take more advantages from creating and selling your bot?
Have a look at these cool examples featured in Inc. magazine to understand what to build next!
⌚ 3 min read (kinda short)
https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/11-interesting-examples-of-how-to-use-chatbots.html
Inc.com
11 Interesting Examples of How to Use Chatbots
Chatbots can schedule meetings, tell you the weather, and provide customer support. And that's just the beginning.
Forward-thinking organizations across financial services are already beginning to use AI to automate tedious processes.
But what are the advantages of using chatbots in financial sector?
AI chatbots with emotional intelligence can deliver spend analysis and stock advice, assist in opening or closing an account, transfer money, or resolve a credit charge dispute — decreasing costs a lot.
A real chance to improve banking business, right?
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/26/financial-services-sector-needs-ai-not-customer-service-for-dummies/
But what are the advantages of using chatbots in financial sector?
AI chatbots with emotional intelligence can deliver spend analysis and stock advice, assist in opening or closing an account, transfer money, or resolve a credit charge dispute — decreasing costs a lot.
A real chance to improve banking business, right?
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/26/financial-services-sector-needs-ai-not-customer-service-for-dummies/
VentureBeat
Financial services sector needs AI, not ‘Customer Service for Dummies’
Guest The financial services sector is lagging in customer engagement, despite being a leader in modernizing across more complex functions, like trading and managing transactions. What gives? The handbook Customer Service for Dummies says to “design customer…
Meet #botoftheweek, your personal guide for travel Japan!
Holiday Inn Osaka Nauba launched Bebot, the first hotel-bot in Japan.
Bebot acts as a hotel concierge, provides guests with personal assistance such as booking restaurants, personalized recommendations for activities, and answering questions about hotel facilities and services.
It opens a great opportunity for hotels to improve experiences for their guests by learning about them through informal chat log and also save on personnel by automating responses to frequently asked questions in the chatbot. This way, hotels can simply focus on enabling the amazing hotel experiences.
So if you are going to visit Japan, make sure you get this bot installed, otherwise you can be rejected to checkin 😂
https://www.newswire.com/news/meet-bebot-japans-first-ai-chatbot-for-hotels-now-available-at-holiday-19590002
Holiday Inn Osaka Nauba launched Bebot, the first hotel-bot in Japan.
Bebot acts as a hotel concierge, provides guests with personal assistance such as booking restaurants, personalized recommendations for activities, and answering questions about hotel facilities and services.
It opens a great opportunity for hotels to improve experiences for their guests by learning about them through informal chat log and also save on personnel by automating responses to frequently asked questions in the chatbot. This way, hotels can simply focus on enabling the amazing hotel experiences.
So if you are going to visit Japan, make sure you get this bot installed, otherwise you can be rejected to checkin 😂
https://www.newswire.com/news/meet-bebot-japans-first-ai-chatbot-for-hotels-now-available-at-holiday-19590002
www.be-spoke.io
AI Powered Chatbots - Bebot | Bespoke Inc.
Automate conversations with your customers - collect customer insight that your brand has never seen before.
There were a lot of rumors about it and yeah, it happened. Yesterday, at the annual WWDC event Apple revealed their Amazon Echo/Google Home competitor called HomePod. And yea, it’s with Siri inside 🤖
But what’s more interesting - according to the Apple CEO Tim Cook who said “We want to reinvent home music”, HomePod is more focused on music first, not Siri. The price for this thing is 349$, which is really a lot in comparison to Amazon Echo (180$) and Google Home (130$). Seems like Apple executives looked to justify that higher price by pitching the HomePod as a premium-tier speaker for music - a big focus for Apple - while implying that the Echo and Home are not.
But let’s talk voice assistants. From my perspective - Apple is doing the right thing positioning its new device as something different and premium because of 2 reasons:
1. Siri kinda sucks. A big question for the new speaker, though, is whether Siri is good enough to power its own dedicated device. Siri was around from 2011, but Apple has been slow to improve Siri's voice-recognition technology and set of responses, especially compared with Alexa and Google Assistant. A smart speaker housing an underachieving voice assistant could weaken demand.
2. Apple is late to the market. Amazon's two-year head start with its Alexa-powered Echo smart speaker has allowed it to introduce a whole range of Echo devices, partner with dozens of smart home device makers and sell millions of speakers. Google started selling its competing Google Home, powered by Google Assistant, in November.
But as we know from the experience of past decades Apple usually knows how to break patterns and conquer the market. Let the battle begin 😄
https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/05/apple-announces-the-homepod/
But what’s more interesting - according to the Apple CEO Tim Cook who said “We want to reinvent home music”, HomePod is more focused on music first, not Siri. The price for this thing is 349$, which is really a lot in comparison to Amazon Echo (180$) and Google Home (130$). Seems like Apple executives looked to justify that higher price by pitching the HomePod as a premium-tier speaker for music - a big focus for Apple - while implying that the Echo and Home are not.
But let’s talk voice assistants. From my perspective - Apple is doing the right thing positioning its new device as something different and premium because of 2 reasons:
1. Siri kinda sucks. A big question for the new speaker, though, is whether Siri is good enough to power its own dedicated device. Siri was around from 2011, but Apple has been slow to improve Siri's voice-recognition technology and set of responses, especially compared with Alexa and Google Assistant. A smart speaker housing an underachieving voice assistant could weaken demand.
2. Apple is late to the market. Amazon's two-year head start with its Alexa-powered Echo smart speaker has allowed it to introduce a whole range of Echo devices, partner with dozens of smart home device makers and sell millions of speakers. Google started selling its competing Google Home, powered by Google Assistant, in November.
But as we know from the experience of past decades Apple usually knows how to break patterns and conquer the market. Let the battle begin 😄
https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/05/apple-announces-the-homepod/
TechCrunch
Apple announces the HomePod
Apple’s long-rumored Amazon Echo competitor is real. It’s called the HomePod (yes, I know). “We want to reinvent home music,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the company’s…
Here's a starting framework for developing voice and tone in chatbots.
Why does it matter?
Voice and tone can help conversations seem natural. So chatbots are really depend on it. And to build a good product, you need to build a good persona first.
⌚ 8 min read (bigger than usual)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/branding-bots-part-1-crafting-voice-and-tone-for-your-chatbots-and-voice-interfaces-ac102ad51f56
Why does it matter?
Voice and tone can help conversations seem natural. So chatbots are really depend on it. And to build a good product, you need to build a good persona first.
⌚ 8 min read (bigger than usual)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/branding-bots-part-1-crafting-voice-and-tone-for-your-chatbots-and-voice-interfaces-ac102ad51f56
Chatbots Magazine
Branding Bots Part 1: Crafting Voice and Tone For Your Chatbots and Voice Interfaces
Learn how your bot’s branding can use voice and tone to communicate with your audience.
Chatbots are being introduced into almost all spheres of our life. That's a bold fact.
But what do you think about using bots in education?
This field has traditionally been known as a sector where innovation moves slowly. I mean, really slowly.
Nevertheless, during the last years, there has been a large hype over innovative tools to enhance teaching and learning through educational technology.
And here're 6 great examples on how to do that using bots. For example, giving feedback on essays. Good one?
⌚️ 7 min read (educational, lol)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/six-ways-a-i-and-chatbots-are-changing-education-c22e2d319bbf
But what do you think about using bots in education?
This field has traditionally been known as a sector where innovation moves slowly. I mean, really slowly.
Nevertheless, during the last years, there has been a large hype over innovative tools to enhance teaching and learning through educational technology.
And here're 6 great examples on how to do that using bots. For example, giving feedback on essays. Good one?
⌚️ 7 min read (educational, lol)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/six-ways-a-i-and-chatbots-are-changing-education-c22e2d319bbf
Do you want to design your bot at a high level?
It's really hard to build a good design without a proper tool. And there is one.
Meet the bot canvas. Actually, it's a spreadsheet coded with four parts: green, red, blue and yellow one. Each part provide you to answer the questions connected with value, user related, design, development and deployment parameters of your bot.
As a result, Chatbot Design Canvas allows you to get a complete picture of the chatbot you are only thinking to build. Useful.
⌚️ 10 min read (long one)
https://medium.com/@srinivasancj/chatbot-design-canvas-c3940685ca2c
It's really hard to build a good design without a proper tool. And there is one.
Meet the bot canvas. Actually, it's a spreadsheet coded with four parts: green, red, blue and yellow one. Each part provide you to answer the questions connected with value, user related, design, development and deployment parameters of your bot.
As a result, Chatbot Design Canvas allows you to get a complete picture of the chatbot you are only thinking to build. Useful.
⌚️ 10 min read (long one)
https://medium.com/@srinivasancj/chatbot-design-canvas-c3940685ca2c
Medium
Chatbot Design Canvas
What is a chatbot? The answer to this question will depend on who you ask. My take on it is that, chatbots encompass a wide variety of…
SendWyre, a money transfer service that uses blockchain tech, launched a chatbot!
It enables business owners easily send money to any person or business without worrying about high foreign exchange rates, hidden fees, complicated payout timing and high payment fees.
The bot simply asks a series of questions regarding the sender, recipient, and how much money needs to be sent. Then it initiates the request, prepares the invoice, and sends money in a few simple steps. Good UX and nice use case.
It seems that chatbots can really simplify money transferring process. Love that!
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/how-this-chatbot-is-making-traditional-money-transfers-more-simple-c5c7b65adbb
It enables business owners easily send money to any person or business without worrying about high foreign exchange rates, hidden fees, complicated payout timing and high payment fees.
The bot simply asks a series of questions regarding the sender, recipient, and how much money needs to be sent. Then it initiates the request, prepares the invoice, and sends money in a few simple steps. Good UX and nice use case.
It seems that chatbots can really simplify money transferring process. Love that!
⌚️ 4 min read (good one)
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/how-this-chatbot-is-making-traditional-money-transfers-more-simple-c5c7b65adbb
Chatbots Magazine
How This Chatbot Is Making Traditional Money Transfers More Simple
Chatbots are the growing trend of 2017. They can give you weather updates, help you book your travel, or be your matchmaker. Chatbots have…
The first conversational marketing platform powered by AI just announced a $8.3 million series A funding!
Basically Automat helps companies use AI to talk to their customers, understand them and serve them better.
With this latest round of financing, Automat has raised $11M USD, the most amount of capital of any company focused on AI-driven conversational marketing.
That's solid.
⌚️ 4 min read (again)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/announcing-automats-series-a-funding-andy-mauro
Basically Automat helps companies use AI to talk to their customers, understand them and serve them better.
With this latest round of financing, Automat has raised $11M USD, the most amount of capital of any company focused on AI-driven conversational marketing.
That's solid.
⌚️ 4 min read (again)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/announcing-automats-series-a-funding-andy-mauro