Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Facebook Messenger was tested bots and we made new friends – 01net.com

This was expected, it is now done. Through the voice of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has formalized the arrival of bots on Messenger. Or rather chatbots, robots that make you the conversation. And, above all, is often something to sell you. Airlines (KLM), central reservation (Voyages-SNCF), media (CNN) or weather (Poncho) … there are many service providers now have a mad desire to talk to us.

at present, only a handful of bots running around on the chat application. Or rather on Facebook, since it is the main application – or the site itself – we went to meet them. On page companies have already launched their bot, a click on the “Contact” tab automatically leads to the opening of a conversation with the message “Get Started” ( “Start”).



Nicolas Sarkozy? Knows not

We started the discussion with CNN – no French-language media that have yet taken the plunge. First sentence, the US giant warns that we now will send a briefing every morning. So here we are subscribers to a newsletter. The bot then encourages us to request information about a particular subject, citing such terms as “political” or “refugees.” A search by keywords like Google for twenty years.



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typing “Hollande”, CNN brings us to a paper announcing the resignation of Christiane Taubira, dated 27 January. In fairness, we type “Nicolas Sarkozy”. Unknown to the battalion. We can not blame CNN for not being an expert on French politics. By typing “Obama”, one comes across a paper published on March 29, while the media has released an article about the US President not later that he is 48. One wonders how is the analysis of our query. A few hours after we receive a CNN message surtitles “article that might please you.” It concerns the American wrestling. The use of the conditional was justified.



The doctor bot is not for tomorrow

We then turn to the Wall Street Journal . Again, we offer access to the most important articles of the day. But the approach is more pointed, prompting us to ask for stock prices. To do this, you must type the sign “$ ” followed by the code of the action ( “$ AAPL” for Apple). One can also type “look up Apple” ( “follow Apple”). A graph is displayed, with the evolution of the action in question. Below, three tabs. “More info” (for detailed financial information), “Latest News” and “Follow”. In choosing the third option, you will be entitled to a daily summary about the company in question. During the day, the Wall Street Journal as CNN spontaneously send us many more messages, more or less relevant.



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then we made a turn towards HealthTap, a US service online medication that offers the help doctors anytime. First info, our questions and our identity will remain confidential. A good thing. But after receiving our first question ( “How to cure my cold?”), We kindly warns us that the answers can not be considered as medical advice. There is still some room before a bot takes the responsibility to prescribe us a week of antibiotics. We then ask for help to stop smoking. Several articles about stopping smoking then appear. Again, it will be dropped in the simple content search.



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to finish with romanticism – and to test the bot only “really” trading to date, we made a turn at 1-800-Flowers, an American florist. After having asked the recipient’s address, we are asked about the type of opportunity to celebrate, before making a selection. After choosing a yellow bouquet of a rather dubious taste, we tell the bot billing address, the message to accompany the bouquet and of course our credit card number.



 01net.com –

For the latter particularly sensitive stage, we redirect to a secure site . In the end, the process has been quick and easy. The possibility also to record our information – nonbank -. directly on Messenger, to not have to enter it again later

Among the forty bots already announced include large names like Burger King – to control its upstream menu, Expedia – to book the trip, or Zalando – delivered to a pair of shoes. We imagine soon evolve in isolation in the Facebook environment. But this should not be without consequences.



New friends some tights

For the experience to be really interesting, it will play the game thoroughly. And that means entrusting his bank details to Facebook. Among GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon), Zuckerberg site is ultimately the only one not we have requested earlier. Playing the game also requires the practice to be wisely studied by various bots. For that brands can offer us something relevant, it will let them enjoy the many confidential information that Facebook already has. location data, favorite movies, favorite food, favorite music, favorite types of kittens.

But at the time of writing, we have more unread messages from our new friends. Both CNN and two of the Wall Street Journal . And this is where we ask a question: how to filter the “true” “false” messages? How to avoid this deceptive effect when waiting for a message from our best friend on road trip on the other side of the world, and we discover a Carrefour message announcing a discount on the gums pork?

Or more simply, how to prevent our Facebook messaging turns into gigantic spam box? After closing the conversation, our mates bots are still returned to the charge. To avoid them, no choice but to block them. Cool, these new friends, but perhaps a little heavy.

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