Facebook Chat-Bots: Technology With Brains

In the world of fashion, we often forget the helpful links that we share with the technology industry. Fashion is creative, versatile and fun, while technology can be seen as regimented, smart and at times boring. But when the two are used in harmony, fashion and technology end up being undisputed partners in crime. Take Shopify for example; a very easy to use, quick way of purchasing clothes online without having to sign up to emails and spam. Shopify uses Facebook messenger to distribute order confirmations and shipping alerts, therefore making it even easier to shop online. This is the perfect example of a very useful chat-bot, as it manages to communicate with the customers while not spamming them with annoying messages and updates constantly.

So, why should we care about these chat-bots? That is an easy question to answer: because they can solve everything and help in everyday life with lots of little niggling problems which can make life just that little bit easier. Here’s our list of the top Facebook chat-bots and why they are so useful:

Penny Cat

PennyCat promises to “Save tons of your cash and be the key to the best deals”. This chat-bot works by you telling it which store you would like a discount at and it locating the best deals for you in seconds. For example, we entered in ‘New Look’ and it gave us various options which we could use both online and in-store. We selected the deal we preferred and it provided us with a discount code that we could apply online at the checkout or in store if needed.

Regina G

Regina G was built using the Twillio API in order to create a simulated version of the experience of being bullied. This was created in order to educate all people, teenagers, teachers, parents, bullies and victims themselves about bullying, what to look out for and how best to address and respond to the situation. At the end of your chat, the bot assesses your level of confidence in standing up to the bully and gives advice on how to better combat bullies in future. It then links you to some helpful bullying websites. Regina G is currently offline pending further development.

LazySet

LazySet is the perfect app for Spotify users who are too busy to make their own playlists. This chat-bot simply asks if you would like it to mix a Spotify playlist for you, then who you would like it to sound like. You can input as many artists as you like, then you simply connect the bot to your Spotify account, much the same as connecting to your Facebook account and it makes a ready-to-listen playlist for you which not only includes the artists you suggested, but also artists with a similar sound, therefore introducing you to different and new sounds.

Digg

Digg is the best chat-bot to give you the latest trending news, as well as any news about a specific topic in seconds. You can also choose to have Digg send you daily news updates, which is simpler than on a news related phone application because you can choose to stop them whenever you like.

HipMunk

HipMunk is the Travel Supermarket of Facebook Messenger chat-bot technology. If you are planning to travel somewhere, simply ask HipMunk about flights and accommodation and it will provide you with a list of all the bookable options with no personal preference on price, location or anything for that matter. HipMunk is the easy way to travel your way.

While these fully-fledged, brilliant Messenger chat-bots are incredible and seriously cool, there are many more on their way. An up-and-coming chat-bot on The Clothes Maiden’s radar right now is PopBot, a multifunctional bot whose main purpose is to add filters to your photographs for you. While it is still in the development phase, PopBot has plenty of potential and is definitely worth checking out!

Sophie Eminson