Facebook's 'spammy' chatbots must improve - and fast

If bots are the new apps, we're in for a bombardment of spam that could force you into blocking brands, bots and services, if Facebook's new chatbots are anything to go by. In trying out the new bots, the launch of which Facebook's head of messaging David Marcus called "the first day of a new era", it's obvious that Facebook and its partners, including news organisations such as CNN and the Wall Street Journal, need to learn a few things, and fast. User intrigue over what a chatbot can actually do quickly turned into loathing, once they began being spammed through a channel hitherto restricted to personal messages from people they care about. While users might put up with spam on a social network, messaging systems are more akin to a phone call or SMS, where sender is essentially shouting in the recipients face "talk to me now". That's fine if it's a select friend that you might want to actually talk to, but if it's a brand you're very unsure about, it quickly grates.