With Facebook’s recent announcement of integrated Chat Bots on Messenger having sparked a flurry of online conversations, our final Chart of the Day this week looks at the role of social networks as online research channels.
Currently, it’s 1 in 3 internet users who say they use networks to find out more information about a company or product. That makes it clear why many brands will want to provide automated, round-the-clock assistance to consumers on these channels, even if – for now at least – most will want to retain the ability for a human to “intervene” in the conversation if needed.
As we might expect, there’s a clear age-related trend here; over 35% of 16-24s are using networks as a research channel, compared to less than a fifth of 55-64s. By region, it’s internet users in Latin America and MENA who are most likely to be engaging with this behavior. So, if you want to predict where bots are likely to have the best reception, look no further than young consumers in fast-growth regions.
