America Online (AOL) is launching a programme to promote
and facilitate the creation of what it calls AIM Robots for its Aim
instant messaging system.
Aim Robots are sponsored and operated by AOL and other suppliers
and appear as buddy icons in the buddy lists of Aim users who
install them.
For example, users can send an instant message to the
AOLYellowpages Aim Robot with the name of a local business or with
simply a keyword and the robot replies with related directory
listings.
The Wall Street Journal robot lets users set up news alerts to
be delivered via Aim, as well as request stock prices. A robot
sponsored by the ABC quiz show "Who wants to be a millionaire?"
polls users via Aim when a show contestant requests help with a
particular question.
Aim Robots have existed since 2002, but AOL is now wrapping a
formal programme around this feature, said Brian Curry, senior
director of AOL's Aim Network Services. "We never had a
well-defined programme. Now we have a programme with partners who
help people build these bots," he said.
The decision to give Aim Robots a boost is a result of the
increasing popularity of instant messaging in general and of the
existing Aim Robots, particularly the "Who wants to be a
millionaire?" one, which has been added to the buddy lists of about
75,000 Aim users, Curry said. "It's a great window for marketers to
interact with potential customers and disseminate information," he
said.
It is up to each user to add the robots he is interested in, and
he can remove them whenever he wants, Curry said.
Robot operators agree not to distribute users' screen names and
pledge to only use the robots for their stated purpose, so that Aim
users do not face the type of spam nuisance affecting e-mail, Curry
said.
"That's a point of great sensitivity for us," he said, adding
that AOL monitors closely the use of robots to ensure that the
experience remains a positive one for users.
The Aim Bot Programme features third-party partners such as
IMLogic, FaceTime Communications, Akonix Systems and Macromedia
that have been certified by AOL to create Aim Robots and deploy
them on the Aim network by reselling access to the Aim network.
A company interested in promoting its brand or its products via
an Aim Robot can contact AOL or these certified partners.
A company may launch an Aim Robot to reach consumers (B2C) or to
interact with corporate clients, partners or its own employees
(B2B)
This AOL initiative is significant because it is going to make
it easier for companies to launch Aim robots, particularly
brick-and-mortar companies that until now have not considered an
instant-messaging robot a viable tool to reach out to customers and
partners, said Michael Osterman, president and founder of market
research firm Osterman Research.
"The fact that AOL has the market leadership in the IM space is
going to give them an advantage with companies that are looking to
get into this," Osterman said. "There are a lot of companies that
don't do anything in this space right now and if they decide to
test the waters and invest in one [robot] technology or one venue
for this, at least as a trial, Aim is the way to go, simply because
it has the biggest reach."
Instant-messaging robots appeal to end-users because they offer
the ability to communicate in real time and obtain information in a
way that is absent from most Web sites, except those that have a
chat feature, Osterman said. "That's the direction IM is going.
You'll continue to see the text chat that goes on now, but you're
going to see a lot more integration with back-end applications to
basically extract the information you want," he said.
For example, instead of having to browse through online
documentation looking for an answer to a technical-support
question, end users increasingly will be able to query an IM robot
created by the manufacturer of the product that is malfunctioning,
he said.
A list of existing Aim Robots can be found here:
aimtoday.aol.com/features/main_redesign.adp?fid=aimbots
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service