In a DLF phase far far away, there is a bunch of underdogs who think they can fly. Their neighbors don’t know them, their parents and friends don’t get them and their social life is almost non-existent. They think, talk, code, aim, dream, fight, sleep and call themselves entrepreneurs. They are dorky and their sense of humor is pathetic.
But, some good people believe in them and have trusted them with their money. Ever since they are funded, they have started nerd-ing even harder. Looks like, there is no stopping the craziness now.
A month back when Mark Zuckerberg announced bots for Facebook’s messenger app, one of them got so excited that he could not sleep the whole night. Or perhaps, he did sleep and then sleep-walked all the way to Facebook headquarters, gathered the inputs from them, wrote the specifications and came back the next morning to get started.
Post that, endless discussions happened, timelines were set, vacations were called off, fights were fought and three of them locked themselves in a 20*20 room for the next 7 days. They ate a lot of Pizzas, wrote a lot of code, smelled a lot foul and created a lot of mess. The rest of them waited with bated breath and gained calories (!)
And, then one fine evening, it was all done. The 3 musketeers (for lack of better word) showed the beta version of their news bot to everyone out there. It was pretty, by any standard.
Some of them lauded, some moaned real hard, some were plain agnostic and remarked — But, how will it increase the number of downloads of the app?
What happened next — they waited for a month, checked the developer login every day, thought they would be rejected by the big F(acebook), kept on doing other goofy stuff. They kept thinking, talking, coding, dreaming and fighting. And, then on a fateful day, their bot got approved.
They became India’s first news bot on FB Messenger- https://m.me/newsbytesapp
And, how do I know them? Those underdogs are us.
Closing remarks:
We look better on the app, that is our soul. But we do the exact same thing on the Messenger. Try us, WILL YOU?
May the bot be with you! 😉
~Shikha
https://twitter.com/NewsBytesApp
asha chaudhry
hey shikha,
i love the story behind the story – you guys really know how to tell it well!!
good luck – will check out and get back to u!!
Shikha Chaudhry
Thank you so much, Asha! You are always way too kind. 🙂
Amit Rohra
Congratulations on the chat bot launch Shikha 🙂 !
Shikha Chaudhry
Thank you so much! 🙂
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Sorry, but when I click on the Messenger link via a desktop, it doesn’t work?
What am I missing?
It just takes me to my inbox on FB messenger
Amit Rohra
I don’t think there is a way on the desktop browser app to get a bot conversation started (at least none that I know of). Once initial contact has been established through the FB Messenger mobile app, you’re able to interact with the bot on the desktop app too. To get a conversation started on the mobile app just search for NewsByte when choosing who to start a conversation with.
Shikha Chaudhry
Hi Alok,
There are 2 ways to interact with the bot from a desktop:
1) Either click on this link https://m.me/newsbytesapp and get started.
2) Or go to the messenger app first, search “NewsBytes App” under Bots and Business section, say hi to it there and continue the conversation from the desktop.
Please let me know your feedback once you try it! 🙂
Regards,
Shikha
Shivram Samant
Congrats Shikha!!! Its working for me..Pretty interesting stuff and would like to know more about it..
Thx
Shivram