16 years ago we launched the millennium with VoIP calling applications. PeopleCall was one of the most popular at that time, an application that allows us to make international calls at a very low price, but the options began to multiply very soon after.
It seemed that we had rediscovered the world. Those who live far from their families communicate again frequently, those who knew each other via chat could chat using the same channel: the Internet.
After the web calls, video conferencing applications began to appear, Skype on the throne, dominating the sector … And mobile phones had not yet appeared in the hands of millions of users.
The iPhone, the great Android, Windows Phone devices are played, the applications of the communication category did not stop fighting for leadership, unofficial blogs began to appear specialized in Viber, WhatsApp, Wechat … nothing would stop the old chat renewed now being in everyone's pockets, anywhere, without depending on the computer, without depending on the WiFi at home.
These applications now offer functions typical of the large communication platforms of a few years ago. The voice within WhatsApp is already something common, surely soon we will also see the videoconference, data encryption is contagious among these options, file sharing is becoming easier and they are growing at such a great rate that practically no one calls anyone , voice messages are sent, it is more practical.
Whatsapp and company are also revolutionizing communication between groups. Parents of students in the same class now share their concerns on the phone (which is not always a positive thing), alumni continue to be in touch sharing from jokes to news about politics, families talk more to each other than when there are no phones It seems that the new era of communication is based on this type of apps.
The question is, is this the end? What is the next step?
When we used Skype on the computer, before the mobile era, it was easy to imagine what would come next: not depending on cables, being able to talk to anyone from anywhere, without computers. That future has already arrived, and now it is more difficult to imagine something better. Whatsapp activated with voice in wristwatches? We are not so far from that … and later?
Everything seems to indicate that the evolution is in the bots, in the possibility of using the messenger for more than just communicating with people: we want to communicate with systems and get something in return, we want to buy plane tickets via chat, we want a pizza at home without waste time on the phone, we want to get information about the birth of Nelson Mandela without using Google we want to go one step further, and that step is closely related to the Telegram bots, the Skype bots, the Facebook messenger bots and all those that will continue to appear over the next few years.
Every day they present us with new bots, many of them really ridiculous, others quite original, but few of them useful. The bots have to meet fundamental requirements for them to be successful in the population:
– Speed: If a user talks to a bot, they must get the answer immediately, so the process / search capability of the responsible application has to be prepared for that. Utility: It is important for a user to use a bot and repeat the experience because they have found it useful. There are many original and fun bots, but there needs to be a need that must be covered. Geographical specialization: Having a bot that allows you to order a pizza in a neighborhood in San Francisco is as curious as it is useless for the vast majority of people. It is necessary that the bots adapt to the place where the user is, as long as it is necessary to fulfill his mission.
Over the next few months we will be talking a lot about existing bots and platforms that help build them. Stay tuned, because we have a new protagonist on the web x.0.
