So, you may remember not that long ago — as in, last month — I was very keen on chatbots.
I got a lot of inspiration from Andrew Warner over at Mixergy, who had helped me see some things that I hadn’t understood at all about the format.
Fast forward a few weeks … and Facebook announced that they were putting all new bots on hold while they conduct a massive audit.
It turns out that having to put on a suit to testify before Congress can make a founder cautious.
It might seem awkward, but truly, in the long run (which is how I roll), it matters very little. Here’s why.
No, chatbots aren’t dead
Just to get this one out of the way: there’s no reason to think that this is anything other than a pause on chatbots on Facebook’s Messenger platform.
As it happens, anyone who had a bot already running was fine — this is just a pause on new ones. So if you were an early adopter, you have my permission to pat yourself on the back.
Now, if this was technology that Facebook didn’t like, or that they felt was exploitative in some way, chatbot creators could be having a bad time.
However, despite the slightly creepy-sounding name, chatbot technology doesn’t rely on any of the privacy strip-mining that has Facebook in hot water right now.
One thing I like about chatbots is that they provide an additional way to connect with our audiences in a direct way.
But I’ve talked with a few people who have run chatbot campaigns, who mentioned that they “didn’t even collect the email.”
I don’t think that’s a great idea.
Think “and,” not “or”
Permission-based chat technology can potentially give us another channel to connect, for people who prefer to communicate in that way. And there might be other channels that will make sense,…
