A bot consists of an algorithm that allows it to develop its functions in an automated manner.
Bot is a term that has its origins in the English language. This is robot shortening, a concept referring to a machine that, based on its programming, is able to carry out different tasks. Another use of a robot appears in computing , where it is linked to the program that can perform an automatic scan on a network to detect certain data.
Returning to the idea of a bot, it is used to refer to software that copies the behavior of a person . In this way, a bot executes actions similar to those carried out by a human being in a digital environment, being able to learn through machine learning .
Characteristics of a bot
There are different types of bots. At a general level, it can be said that it is a program that carries out certain activities on the Internet thanks to the commands that, previously, assigned it a specific function. Therefore, it works by automation.
One of the most important features of a bot is that it can interact with human users. These systems are prepared to react to stimuli and provide responses.
There are bots that fulfill basic roles and do not have great complexity. Others, however, are based on artificial intelligence and can make "autonomous" decisions based on the parameters included in their programming code.
A data extraction can be executed by a bot.
The web crawler
The crawler, spider or web indexer is among the most used bots. These programs are dedicated to browsing the Web , recording the pages they visit so that they can later be indexed in a search engine.
A bot of this kind, therefore, navigates in an automated and orderly manner to examine millions of websites. Following various rules, visit the different pages and create lists of URLs. Then, the search engine makes use of that information to offer results to the queries made by Internet users.
In order to facilitate the work of the web crawler, site designers take into account search engine optimization . Various criteria help pages to be found by search engines and position them in the first places when displaying search results.
Digital marketing usually takes advantage of bots to carry out promotions and serve users and potential clients.
The chatbot
A chatbot or conversational bot is software that can engage in communication with an individual. Prepared to offer answers to specific questions, bots are trained to "converse."
The usual thing is that the dialogue is established through the exchange of texts. Although it seems that the bot reasons and uses logic to answer, in reality it only analyzes the information provided by the person and, after that processing, responds as indicated by its programmer, giving rise to a live chat with instant response.
These bots are increasingly popular in customer, user, consumer or citizen service . Company and organization websites often have a bot that invites you to chat and can answer frequently asked questions.
A customer service bot , for example, can provide information on opening hours. A sales bot , meanwhile, is prepared to respond to prices of products and services.
Depending on the field, there may also be a news bot , an educational bot , a financial bot , or a health bot , to name a few other possibilities. The logic is always the same: the system facilitates human-computer interaction through natural language processing . In this way, the person writes to the bot as if they were writing to another individual, and the bot responds as a personal assistant.
Its use on social networks
In the field of social networks , it is common to use a special type of chatbot that publishes automatic messages to support or condemn projects, causes, ideas, etc. Thus, it is used to influence public opinion.
The social media bot is used to advertise, spread fake news , attack opponents or contribute to the popularity of someone or something. These applications are very common on Twitter (today X ), where they are known as Twitterbots , being able to perform the same actions as people in the virtual field.
These bots obey an interaction design and certain content strategies . If the intention is to harm a candidate's electoral chances, by indicating a possibility, a bot can be programmed so that, with each mention of the candidate in question on the social network, it automatically responds with a specific message (where he is accused of corruption , For example).
Another possibility is for the bot to track trends to publish content that helps position a brand. Thus, based on said survey, you can broadcast tweets with a certain periodicity to contribute to visualization, since trends are formed with the most debated or mentioned topics.