Photo credit: Matthew Hurst via Flickr
Public relations professionals may be unprepared for what some call a “blazing hot” communications trend: chatbots.
A chatbot is a service, powered by rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, that interacts with users via a chat interface, as Matt Schlicht explains in his Medium article. Facebook Messenger, Slack and Telegram are popular examples.
Currently, online shoppers bumble around on an ecommerce site, searching for what they want. If the business has a chatbot, shoppers simply send the company a message via Facebook Messenger and the bot responds, simulating the experience of visiting a brick-and-mortar retail store. Chatbots can be constructed to provide weather forecasts, relay the news, schedule meetings or give advice on a range of topics. The possibilities are practically unlimited.
Predicts a Bot Explosion
“I think you’re going to see a bot explosion,” Beerud Sheth, CEO of messaging platform Gupshup, told AdWeek. “I think it’s safe to say that this is the year of the bot. All the technology pieces are in place.”
The four largest messaging apps now boast more monthly active users than the four largest social networking apps, according to BI Intelligence.
“So, logically, if you want to build a business online, you want to build where the people are. That place is now inside messenger apps,” Schlicht says. “It’s potentially a huge business opportunity for anyone willing to jump headfirst and build something people want.”
Chatbots that are rules based can respond only to specific commands. Those that use machine learning can understand language, not just commands, and learn from conversations. Expertise at artificial intelligence is not required to build chatbots. The key is to avoid over promising their abilities.
Advanced chatbots are still in their early development stages, but Schlicht believes consumers will be receptive to them, as they were to apps several years ago.
PR is Lagging
At a presentation to a group of internal communicators, Shel Holtz, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, asked who had heard of chatbots. One hand went up.
PR is traditionally slow to adopt emerging technologies, Holtz writes on Medium. PR pros initially questioned the potential importance of desktop publishing, email, and blogging. They are repeating that reaction with chatbots. Meanwhile, advertising and marketing are already investigating and testing the applications.
“Our industry has made it a habit of being late to the game, then scrambling to catch up,” Holtz laments. “Consequently, we make a lot of mistakes in the glare of public scrutiny, while our friends working in paid media made their mistakes early on when everybody else is still figuring it out and missteps are more easily forgiven.”
To help get PR up to speed, Holtz is presenting a webinar on chatbots this Friday at 11 a.m. Pacific time.
Bottom Line: Tech experts predict that chatbots, computer programs that can communicate with customers, are the Next Big Thing. Even if predictions about their proliferation don’t come true, it’s important for PR to understand the abilities and potential impact of chatbots.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
This is a good observation. If you are talking about PR professionals, they do generally move slowly – the old fashioned PR pro thinks and acts the same way they always have. It’s all about email and phone – there’s no space in their behaviour for automation.
If you are talking about public relations as a behaviour, companies probably would class a chatbot as a CRM tool or a sales aid rather than a PR tool.