If you haven’t read Chris Messina’s overview of the messaging landscape, go do so! It’s great.
My TL;DR would be:
- Bots are replacing apps
- We have conversations with those bots
- Language is the new interface
This means writing is more important than ever. Constructing the voice of your product has always been a worthwhile exercise, but now the voice of your product is your product.
This shift will require deeper thought into a product’s identity. Should your product be a humanoid? Does it have gender? Is it a little sassy? Is it eager to please?
We’re at the beginning, and it shows.
For example, many AI personal assistants are lazily crafted. Female, a little smarter than her boss, prim language, sexy voice.
This is alarming but predictable and I think we’ll power through it.
We just have to build better characters. The good news is that storytellers have been at this for a while and we can pick up their best practices.
Even better, we can look at great characters and copy them.
One way to think of a bot is as an assistant. A cooler way to think of a bot is as a sidekick. There’s no shortage of sidekicks in film and literature. Maybe the best place to look is Disney’s animated classic Aladdin (1992).
Aladdin is useful because it features a glut of sidekicks, each with a variety of personality traits. In fact, the folks over at the Disney Wikia did us a favor and summarized them all. Here are those descriptions, lightly edited:
Rajah
- Sidekick to: Jasmine
- Alignment: Good
- Personality: Loyal, caring, brave, protective, suspicious
- Likes: Being with Jasmine
- Dislikes: Jasmine being sad, Jasmine in trouble, Prince Achmed, rats, anything that Jasmine takes a disliking to
Abu
- Sidekick to: Aladdin
- Alignment: Good
- Personality: Feisty, loyal, caring, scheming, sneaky, good-hearted, greedy, thieving, energetic, opinionated
- Likes: Food, shiny objects
- Dislikes: Danger, fireworks, flying, Aladdin scolding him, poverty, being chased by Razoul and his guards
Iago
- Sidekick to: Jafar
- Alignment: Evil
- Personality: Antagonistic, selfish, loud-mouthed, greedy, cowardly, witty, clever, temperamental, wise-cracking, realistic, sarcastic, good-hearted
- Likes: Treasure, fruit, talking, wealthy living, The Nest Egg, cheating, casinos
- Dislikes: Danger, crackers, mistreatment, work, bugs and insects, adventure, Aladdin’s wholesomeness, Abu’s conscience, Genie’s flamboyance, Rajah trying to eat him, being proven wrong, sentimental feelings, surprises
Carpet
- Sidekick to: Aladdin
- Alignment: Good
- Personality: Intelligent, pure, heroic, playful, occasionally timid, compassionate, loyal
- Likes: Flying, games with Genie
- Dislikes: Being scolded, ill treatment, being unwanted
Genie
- Sidekick to: Aladdin
- Alignment: Good
- Personality: Flamboyant, fun-loving, powerful, benevolent, compassionate, kind-hearted, cheerful, positive, adventurous, energetic, friendly, sweet, boisterous, larger-than-life, loyal, wise, loving, devoted, happy-go-lucky, eccentric, forgiving, witty, comical
- Likes: Freedom, using his magic to help others, exploiting his powers, entertaining others, his friends, jokes
- Dislikes: Being a slave, his friends in danger, guavas (they make him sick), catching pneumonia (with the inability to control his magic being a dangerous symptom), itty-bitty living spaces, Imps, causing trouble for his friends, his magic being used for evil
Any of these characters could make for a good bot identity. But if you had to pick one for your product… you’re probably thinking Genie, right?
Wrong! Kinda.
Genie is great. He’s by far the most powerful character in the film, and if the Disney Wikia is to be believed, he’s omniscient.
He’s also by far the biggest merchandising play — he’s pulled in way more cash for Disney than the protagonist, Aladdin.
And that’s where the problem starts. Aladdin should be about Aladdin. Your product should be about your customer.
A good sidekick makes his companion look powerful.
That’s why my pick for Aladdin’s best sidekick is Magic Carpet. For proof, look no further than the iconic scene where Aladdin invites Jasmine for an enchanted ride:
Magic Carpet is the ultimate wingman. He provides an amazing experience, but he’s so unobtrusive that Jasmine and Aladdin immediately forget he exists.
“I can show you the world,” a super-confident Aladdin says. And Jasmine falls in love with him.
Your bot should get your customer laid.
Today, bot personalities are pretty whack. Siri, Amy, and their dude counterparts are ripped straight out of our stock photo ideas of what an assistant is. (They’re getting better! I’m particularly excited by what the folks at Howdy are doing, for example.)
But here’s my claim: the size of your bot’s personality is inversely related to how empowered your customer feels. Call it the Law of Aladdin.
Do we have a Magic Carpet in the bot-space today? Yes, and it’s called the slash command. The slash command is so lightweight we barely think of it as a bot at all, yet it’s being used to incredible effect by companies like Slack and Slash Keyboard.
When people use the slash command, they feel powerful. If you’ve ever programmed or even futzed around in Terminal you know this feeling well.
So before you go off and build the next Genie, think about the tradeoff: you’ll be giving that feeling of power to a bot instead of a human being.
