X launched an API for automated task accounts, which will enable brands to create custom chatbots for its updated X Chat messaging element.
As shown in this example, developers can use the X Chat API, to make a separate bot account on X (The Barista Bar, in this example) that users will be able to message with action requests.
The bot will then be able to process those requests. So in this example, the bot would automatically submit these orders into the workflow, so that they’re ready for customer pick-up.
As explained by X: “A bot is a programmatic X account created and belonging to your project. It is a real account with a user ID, an @handle, and a display name, but it has no password and no login. The only way to act as a bot is its bearer token.”
X added that all bot profiles will include an “automated by @owner” tag, which points to the business’s X account. Twitter added bot labels to accounts in 2022.
X said these bots can facilitate a range of tasks including bookings, order queries and service updates.
X also provided an example of how this process can be integrated with an artificial intelligence system to provide a fully automated bot service.
Using custom chatbots could ensure that customers are able to get responses to common queries whenever they need.
While for X, it’s also another way to make its refreshed X Chat platform more appealing and more functional, since it now offers more reasons for people to use its DM tools.
That is, if brands take this up.
The limitation here is that X doesn’t provide a framework for bot functions, but instead offers examples of how an automated bot could be set up. That means that X chatbot creation will still require a lot of manual development to build functional chatbots.
However, if a business has an existing automation flow, it might be able to plug that into X and offer customers a new way to access these auto-engagement opportunities.
Also, it means more bot profiles on X, even though Elon Musk once said he would get rid of bots on X “or die trying.”
Now, there are arguably more bots on the platform than ever, though these bot profiles, at least in theory, will be limited to only providing automated responses.
It remains to be seen whether X will include these bot profiles in its active user counts.
