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Facebook Launches 'Agents On Messenger' Platform With Chatbots (techcrunch.com)
Josh Constine, reporting for TechCrunch: Facebook will now allow businesses to deliver automated customer support, ecommerce guidance, content, and interactive experience through "Bots on Messenger", Facebook's term for chatbots. By providing utility through its huge developer and business ecosystem, Facebook could boost loyalty with Messenger, one-up SMS, and keep up chat competitors like Kik, Line and Telegram that have their own bot platforms. Beyond just text, chatbots will be able to respond with structured messages that include images, links, and call to action buttons. These could let users make a restaurant reservation, review an ecommerce order, and more. Facebook is not the only company -- let alone the first -- which has a bot store. Messaging apps Telegram and Kik offer similar functionalities. Popular communication service Slack has also been ramping up its efforts around bots and figuring out different ways to enhance its customers' experience. Two weeks ago, Microsoft also announced a bot platform.
OK I officially don't get it. OLD MAN CHECKING IN HERE!!
Is anybody actually interested in interacting with machines via chatbots? Seriously.
The Japanese, they are geniuses. In Tokyo, every three square feet that doesn't have anything in it, they put a vending machine. Pepsi, water, coffee hot or cold, sandwiches, anything you want, you can get from a vending machine. Push a few buttons and it's yours. Don't worry about going to a store and talking to someone. And now here, we have the fuckin brilliant idea that we want machines to talk like people so you have to waste your time talking to them instead of just pushing the button.
What. The. FUCK?
It reminds me of the whole virtual reality/cyberspace craze back in the 90s. Everybody was so excited about the idea that you would be flying through space modeled with 3D graphics to get to whatever you needed on the internet ... when we ALREADY HAD everything on the internet right at our fingertips and we didn't have to waste our time "going" anywhere ... when eliminating distance and scarcity was the WHOLE POINT of the internet.
Who are these people and where do they come up with their dumb fuckin ideas?
Breakfast served all day!
everyday facebook becomes more an more like AOL circa 95-99
own web browser? check
walled garden? check
now chatbots????
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same