The Social Roles of Bots
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2018 papers
Abstract
Bots, or programs designed to engage in social spaces and perform automated tasks, are typically understood as automated tools or as social "chatbots." In this paper, we consider their place alongside users in the emerging social ecosystem of audience participation platforms, through the application of Structural Role Theory. We perform a large-scale analysis of activity levels of user-designed bots on Twitch, finding that they communicate at a much greater rate than any other type of user. We build on a classification scheme derived from prior literature on bot functionalities to identify the roles bots play on Twitch, how these roles vary across different types of Twitch communities, and how users engage with them and vice versa. We conclude with a discussion of what roles are missing and where opportunities lie to re-conceptualize and re-design bots as social actors who help communities grow and evolve.
Related Papers
- → PACWON: A parallelizing compiler for workstations on a network(1998)
- Study and Two Types of Typical Usage of DataGrid Web Server Control(2005)
- Achieving Parameter of DBSCAN Based on Datagrid(2010)
- Using DataGrid Control to Realize DataBase of Querying in VB6.0(2000)
- Susquehanna Chorale Spring Concert "Roots and Wings"(2017)