These two chatbots will help you on your day-to-day work

I usually get the question on which is the chatbot I like the most, so I’ve decided to share two good initiatives that help me on my routine and to speed up some of the tasks.

When I first interact with a bot, I try to get some of the below out of them:

• Presentation – To know what the bot can and cannot do
• Information displayed in different ways: combination of text, buttons, images.
• Proactive, but not spammy
• Sense of humor
• The bot intelligence/understanding to avoid getting frustrated when I don’t get the expected result

However, I chat again frequently if I find them useful for my day-to-day work. The two chatbots below are living on Facebook Messenger and want to facilitate users’ routine by summarising or double checking information that is on the red.

Instagram sketches: How can chatbots be more friendly?

Chatbots are on the first stage of experimenting through APIs, voice and messaging apps. However, last conferences such as the Web Summit in Portugal, the Chatbot Conference in Vienna or the API days in Barcelona have raised awareness on design and personalities to create more human interactions:

‘Ask yourself what personality you need for your chatbot’ @Chus9000 at #ApiDaysBCN pic.twitter.com/wL1P1EOusT

— Marian C Moldovan (@marianmoldovan) November 22, 2016

Efforts on choosing platforms or technologies to build chatbots shouldn’t override the conversation between the robot and a human. For this reason, accessing the chatbot is as important as drawing the conversation through flowcharts, mindmaps or storyboards. Could “Sorry, I didn’t understand your reply” be more friendly and approachable?

Instagram is an interesting platform that not only focuses on photography but also drawings. Below I have gathered some examples of chatbot storyboards that present customised scenarios between bots and users:

When chatbots talk about politics: 3 good approaches

Since the trend is to keep using Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger rather than downloading new apps, the media is investing in chatbots to engage with the audience. They keep users awake and speak the same language.

There have been several examples of chatbots for cooking, shopping or travelling. However, a politic chatbot is quite new. Below I share three good approaches when it comes to cover elections or represent politicians: