Automation is gradually changing the way communications departments work. Communication Insights “The power of bots” summarizes the results of the research project at the University of Duisburg-Essen. There are two main areas of focus here:

Chatbots:

• What potential do automated applications have for communications departments?
• How can chatbots be set up or improved? (technical infrastructure, programming, etc.)
• What hurdles must be overcome? (data availability, application errors, etc.)

Social Bots:

• To what extent do social bots try to influence the communication of companies in social media?
• For this purpose, millions of posts about DAX30 companies on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were analyzed for bot activity for the first time.
• How can communications departments deal with this threat? What is the legal framework?

Citation: Brachten, F., Stieglitz, S., & Berger, K. (2020). The Power of Bots – The benefits and pitfalls of automation in corporate communications (Communication Insights, Issue 9).
Leipzig, Germany: Academic Society for Management & Communication. Available online at www.academic-society.net

ISSN 2749-893X