Why Kik Thinks Chatbots Will Kill Webpages

Kik's is a bit different from its peers, and the differences reveal some fascinating nuances about how messaging is evolving into a new user-interface paradigm to rival apps. For people who want to create a bot, Kik offers a simple API that allows them to specify how the bot will behave: What it can do, what it will say, and what responses you can type in reply. For users, the bots can be summoned into any conversation with an "@" mention. So you might be making plans with a friend depending on the weather, and bring forth @weatherchannel to give you an update on the forecast. Then, the bot simply leaves your conversation--a telling, human-centered detail meant to teach users that bots are here to help rather than to listen passively to their conversations.