This is funny because just today I decided to join Telegram to develop a bot.
Matrix/Riot is super easy as well. I have a bash script to send messages with a http post.
Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
41–50 of 66 posts
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#42Chatbots on Whatsapp are kind of hard from a UX point of view because the platform don't support rich elements like buttons or webviews (unlike Facebook messenger). I hope Whatsapp adds these kind of features soon, otherwise users will get frustrated when interacting with bots and never use it to talk to businesses again. And no, AI/NLP is not the answer to this because users are lazy and prefer to tap on buttons tha…
No thank you. I like whatsapp for its simplicity. If I wanted a copy of Messenger or Telegram I would use those instead.
Simplicity of features != UX Simplicity
It's way more simple to tap on a button than to write complex sentences. We've studied this, when users have both options available (buttons and input text), 80% go for buttons.
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
No thank you. I like whatsapp for its simplicity. If I wanted a copy of Messenger or Telegram I would use those instead.
Simplicity of features != UX Simplicity It's way more simple to tap on a button than to write complex sentences. We've studied this, when users have both options available (buttons and input text), 80% go for buttons.
What I also meant is that I don't want bots on whatsapp.
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#44I really didn't like the WhatsApp approach on this. Basically only partnering with few big vendors like twilio and then asking people to build apps via them (by basically paying for it). Other apps like telegram allows anyone to directly interact with them
FB paid something like 20bn for Whatsapp almost 6 years ago. Something like 4bn was paid in cash. How do you make that money back if: a) users do not pay a subscription and b) ads are not printed in the app? You leverage the app's immense user base asking businesses to pay for API services so they can implement chat-bots, notifications, in-app tools, etc. Why using res-sellers, like carriers use re-sellers to sell SM…
> Something like 4bn was paid in cash
I assume you don't mean this literally? 1bn in $100 notes weighs over 1 ton.
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#45I really didn't like the WhatsApp approach on this. Basically only partnering with few big vendors like twilio and then asking people to build apps via them (by basically paying for it). Other apps like telegram allows anyone to directly interact with them
FB paid something like 20bn for Whatsapp almost 6 years ago. Something like 4bn was paid in cash. How do you make that money back if: a) users do not pay a subscription and b) ads are not printed in the app? You leverage the app's immense user base asking businesses to pay for API services so they can implement chat-bots, notifications, in-app tools, etc. Why using res-sellers, like carriers use re-sellers to sell SM…
You make the money back by maintaining a monopoly - essentially the only reason they paid so much for WhatsApp.
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
FB paid something like 20bn for Whatsapp almost 6 years ago. Something like 4bn was paid in cash. How do you make that money back if: a) users do not pay a subscription and b) ads are not printed in the app? You leverage the app's immense user base asking businesses to pay for API services so they can implement chat-bots, notifications, in-app tools, etc. Why using res-sellers, like carriers use re-sellers to sell SM…
> Something like 4bn was paid in cash I assume you don't mean this literally? 1bn in $100 notes weighs over 1 ton.
"Cash" seems to have been misused as its own opposite so often as to have become an entirely useless word now, much like "literally".
I assume they just meant "money"?
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#47I'm about to release a bot for Whatsapp for NanaGram ( https://nanagram.co ). Amped! The user experience of SMS-first products is novel and fun. There's something magical about snapping a photo and just texting it to a unique NanaGram number powered by Twilio. It takes just a couple seconds. I'm excited to deliver the same experience through Whatsapp to customers around the globe and people on wifi. Building NanaGram…
> 1) AT&T started blocking any number permanently across its network last January if it contains a hyperlink or email address, even if the customer interacts with the number. I had to create separate messages just for the 12.5% AT&T users. I don't follow - they blocked any number which replied with a hyperlink or email? Can users of AT&T not send them to each other?
If you send a message containing a hyperlink or email address from a Twilio number to an AT&T number, AT&T will block that Twilio number across its network without any notification. This happens even if you have an ongoing thread going with the customer. Even if after the block happens the customer pings the bot with "START" or any message, AT&T silently ignores it and continues to block the number. The customer can continue to send messages inbound to the number (and I believe those get received by Twilio but can't quite remember) but any outbound responses are blocked by AT&T from making their way to the customer, even though they're marked delivered by Twilio. This was the case as of Feb 2019. It could've changed since then and I haven't checked recently.
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
FB paid something like 20bn for Whatsapp almost 6 years ago. Something like 4bn was paid in cash. How do you make that money back if: a) users do not pay a subscription and b) ads are not printed in the app? You leverage the app's immense user base asking businesses to pay for API services so they can implement chat-bots, notifications, in-app tools, etc. Why using res-sellers, like carriers use re-sellers to sell SM…
They don't necessarily need to put ads in the app. They can simply transfer that personal information to their larger people profiles making their existing ad networks more valuable. It could additionally be simply a play to keep someone _else_ from getting said data. (I think your argument still makes sense, just another angle on that part).
The privacy law implications (GDPR, the new California law, etc.) would probably crush Facebook as a company if they started doing that.
They already paid over 100 million for just making false promises when they bought WhatsApp, now that the EU has sharpened their blades to take on big data farms like Google and Facebook, doing something like that would be suicide for FB. Any additional data farming would probably attract auditors and lawsuits that Facebook can't get out of so easily anymore.
Facebook would need to put a lot of work into following the GDPR (because someone using an Asian VPN is still protected, so IP based geoblocking won't work) to prevent a fine. It would be a very risky move.
I don't think Facebook is going to sell private WhatsApp information any time soon.
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#49Hey all, I'm the engineering manager for teams at Twilio responsible for WhatsApp integration, among other channels. We're more than happy to answer any technical or general questions -- fire away with replies. Will keep an eye on it today.
It seems there is no support for letting a user share their location over WhatsApp through the API at this moment - I was wondering why that is and if you're expecting that that will change soon? For the rest I've experimented with the system and it's been working quite well, thanks for the work!
Re: Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Python, Flask and Twilio
#50I really didn't like the WhatsApp approach on this. Basically only partnering with few big vendors like twilio and then asking people to build apps via them (by basically paying for it). Other apps like telegram allows anyone to directly interact with them
With open protocols like XMPP you don't even need some restricted Bot-API to build bots.....