Slashdot Mirror


Facebook Brags That Messenger Has 300,000 Business Bots (mashable.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mashable: At F8, Facebook's Vice President of Messaging Products, David Marcus, jovially reported that Messenger's integration with business is going swimmingly. According to Marcus, over 8 billion messages have been sent between people and businesses. And there are 300,000 monthly active bots engaging with customers on messenger. Facebook introduced messenger bots for businesses at F8 in 2016. The idea is that bots allow for automated communication between businesses and customers, helping with issues like product recommendations and customer service. According to Marcus, that 300,000 number grew from just 100,000 monthly active bots in its first year.

29 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Consumer bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    If only we could build a corresponding network of consumer bots, that interact with business bots asking for product recommendations and silly questions about products. We could then just sit down, and enjoy the fight ongoing between the two sides of bots!

    1. Re:Consumer bots by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Funny

      >> If only we could build a corresponding network of consumer bots, that interact with business bots

      Congratulations, you invented "Twitter"

    2. Re:Consumer bots by sonamchauhan · · Score: 1

      You're more correct than you know. Consumer side bots = intelligent agents! The old dream of a digital butler that pursues your interests while you're otherwise engaged. The funny thing is Facebook is the right company to build them.

      All these business bots just outsource the cognitive burden to us users

    3. Re:Consumer bots by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Unlikely. Why should they give their users (i.e. their product) the ability to circumvent and weed out the spam their actual customers want to push onto them?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Consumer bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Tell me more about why you think we could build a corresponding network of consumer bots.

      This is already done all the time. Check out all of the pay-per-click scams out there. I've seen plenty of sites that generate fake clicks to make money off Google.
      Of course none of them say that's what they are doing, but... that's what they are doing.

    5. Re:Consumer bots by tomhath · · Score: 3, Funny

      You: "Alexa - I need an ambulance!"

      Alexa: "An ambulance has been added to your shopping cart."

    6. Re:Consumer bots by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but no. You need to be able to trust the company that builds your agent.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    7. Re:Consumer bots by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      I've never been spammed by a business bot on Facebook.

      I've had a couple interactions.

      One was opening a support ticket, and it worked like phone prompts but far quicker. I preferred it to an automated phone system, and also when compared to forms with drop downs etc. some websites use. It was quite effective for getting my ticket to the correct person that gave me a prompt human response, and wasn't a terrible way to follow up on said ticket.

      The other one I used is TRIM, and it was maybe more accurately a consumer bot, but it gave me info for price matches on things I purchased, got me Comcast refunds, and was all and all OK. I switched to a credit card with better rewards and stopped using the one with price match, so I no longer interact with it.

      Neither of these bots have spammed me.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  2. Worse than useless by HangingChad · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bots are what you do when you want to pretend you're listening to your customers but don't really want to put any effort into actual engagement. Kind of like automated phone menus. Occasionally helpful but mostly a waste of time.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Worse than useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bots are what you do when you want to pretend you're listening to your customers but don't really want to put any effort into actual engagement. Kind of like automated phone menus. Occasionally helpful but mostly a waste of time.

      Thank you for your post. Your feedback as a valued /. poster is important to us. We are sorry to hear about your negative experience with us. We will take your valuable feedback under careful consideration and will strive to do better next time.

      Sincerely,
      Bots

    2. Re:Worse than useless by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      "Your service is very important to us; that's why Siri's cheaper brother is handling this request..."

  3. Could you please inform me why I want that? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What exactly is it that should make me enjoy having 300,000 spambots in a messaging system? Or why should I use that messaging system when the owner itself not only admits but actually brags that they exist?

    It kinda tells me that they think spamming users with corporate junk is a good idea, and that they aren't even clever enough to hide that.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Could you please inform me why I want that? by olsmeister · · Score: 1

      You have to admit, it might be entertaining when they reach critical mass and start messaging each other and bring the whole system crashing down.

    2. Re:Could you please inform me why I want that? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Don't tempt me, wicked daemon.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Could you please inform me why I want that? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Without bots, Twitter wouldn't exist

      No need to convince me, I already think bots are evil.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. All those bots by xack · · Score: 1

    Being led by one Zuckerbot, harvesting human data on an industrial scale.

  5. issues like product recommendations by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

    The only issue with that is that there are far too many of them. These messages are called spam.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  6. Message to the investors by scottdhansen · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a great way to maximize shareholder value... Look at the impressions that we can create. Who cares that they are vapid and devoid of any real value.

  7. Re:Libeling me JustAnotherOldDouche? by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

    APK apk

    Seems suspicious that your hosts file is an executable program...

  8. Re:Hmm Facebook out for themselves by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    No, they don't even claim it's good for the users. I think they accepted that we see them more like a nuisance than a service by now.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Re:AI has truly come of age by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    English is not my first language, is that the polite way of saying that AI is used to take the piss out of us?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  10. Re:Looking forward... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    And to think that this would probably make the bots ten times more interesting and useful...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  11. Facebook users are Facebook's product by sbrown123 · · Score: 1

    If you use Facebook, you give them permission to pimp you out to others. You are their product.

  12. I daily count my blessings... by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    ... that the company I work for has the good sense to steer clear of letting FB get its foot in the door here.

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  13. Slash-bot. by SlashGodet · · Score: 1

    Slashdot on Facebook uses an automated 'bot in its messenger system! SLASH-BOT. Who points the finger at the finger pointer? Who curses the recursive bots?

    1. Re:Slash-bot. by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Silly, look at the word. Recursive bots curse themselves.

      OTOH, I don't think by curse I mean "swear at".

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  14. No need for middle managers... by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

    "automated communication", from the article quote, is a nonsense term. Communication is missives sent from a person to another person (or organization). Source(s) for statement(s) always trace to someone.

    An automated alert or spam-cast HR garbage is not via a human; it is from a machine making a decision based on rules it was provided. That's not thinking. The courts should bear this out in 5 or 10 years.

    This is the first step of The Automation of Middle Management, so I applaud it. Eject the leeches.

    1. Re:No need for middle managers... by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Not so. Automated communication happens all the time. Nothing about it requires the intervention of a person. In fact, the presence of a person in the link inevitably degrades the process. You can't transmit information without communicating over a channel.

      And this is far from the first step of the automation of middle management. Many middle managers have already been replaced.

      All that said, what's being talked about seems to definitely count as spam. As in:
        "We've got more spam than anyone else" the Facebook manager cried proudly.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  15. Re: Ol Olsoc projecting his problems? Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Apparently APK is just randomly attacking people now with no particular reason. You have lost any tiny bit of sanity you might have had.