Undoubtedly one of the best things to come out of the Kik Messenger app has been Kik bots. We have written about fun bots and seasonal bots before, but we have not yet discussed how you can make the most out of Kik bots on group chats. Well, we want to put an end to this so today we will talk about Kik bots in the context of group chats in some detail.
Of course, Kik bots are great chat enhancers when you are talking to your Kik friends individually but they are even better when you interact with them in the context of a group chat. If you are not sure how you would go about using Kik bots in group chats, you have come to the right place. In this article we will give you lots of tips and ideas on how to use the bots in the official Kik Bot Shop in order to enhance your group chats.
If you would like to know more about this, read on. We will start with some basic concepts in case you have never used Kik bots before. If, however, you are already familiar with Kik bots you may want to skip over the next section and go straight to the sections where we give you advice on how to interact with them as part of a group chat.
What Are Kik Bots?
We cannot exactly blame you for not knowing much about Kik bots yet. In fact, the Kik Bot Shop was only launched a few months ago back in April 2016. But do not worry; in this section we will explain all the Kik Bots basics.
When some people hear / read the word “bot”, they immediately think of spam. So, the first thing we would need to clarify here is that Kik bots are not spam nor do they have anything to do with it.
It is true that spam bots exist and they do from time to time find their way into the Kik Messenger app (and other instant messaging apps) to target their users and phish their financial details and others. These spam bots, however, would always pretend to be real people and you must report them as soon as you encounter one or suspect someone you are chatting with may be one. Now, Kik bots will not pretend to be real people nor will they just start chatting with you for no reason. The safest way for you to find Kik bots would to head over to the Kik Bot Shop and find the right bot (or bots) for you. All bots at the Bot Shop are bona fide bots (i.e., they are not spam).
Having clarified what Kik bots are not, let’s now talk about what they actually are. At the most basic level, Kik bots are chat enhancers that you can use in order to turn your chats into something a lot funnier or more useful. In that sense, they are similar to emoji or stickers. There is a key difference, however, between emoji / stickers and Kik bots. And that fundamental difference is that you can actually interact with Kik bots. You can, for instance, ask them questions. You can often do this in several different ways. You could chat with a Kik bot, you could interact with a Kik bot within a chat with one of your Kik friends, or you could even, as we will explain in a bit, interact with Kik bots in a group chat.
The main thing is that you find the right Kik bot for you. Here are all the categories for Kik bots:
- Entertainment: music, stories, role-play, fan clubs, etc.
- Fashion and Beauty: beauty and fashion advice for everyone.
- Games: games that you can play on the Kik Messenger app.
- Lifestyle: news, weather, fitness, translations, and a lot more.
So, whether you would like to find out what the weather is like, have a quick laugh, get some fashion advice, play games, and much more, you will find the right Kik Bot for you at the Kik Bot Shop.
How Do You Use Kik Bots in Group Chats?
“Instant messaging and chat rooms have basically created a level playing field for deaf people.”- Vint Cerf
Now that you know more about Kik bots the next step would be to start interacting with them. Of course, the best way to do this initially would be to interact with them individually for a bit. The good news is that you will very soon get the hang of chatting with Kik bots. Once you have done that and feel sufficiently comfortable you could try including them in your group chats.
The term “group chat” includes any chat that involves more that two people. So, if you are just chatting with two other Kik friends in the same chat or conversation, that would count as a group chat. The same would apply if you were chatting up to ten different people.
One of the great things that Kik bots can do is to help you break the ice or spice up a flagging conversation. Interacting with a Kik bot as part of a Kik chat can add that extra spark that the conversation was lacking.
How do you bring a Kik bot (or more that one Kik bot) into a group chat? Well, the answer to this question is extremely simple. You can add a Kik bot to your conversation just by mentioning them.
You see, Kik bots, like Kik users, have all a unique user name. In the case of Kik bots, their user name is always preceded by an @sign. So, if you ever want to add a Kik bot into a group chat, all you will need to do would be to type that symbol followed by the bot’s unique user name.
What this means of course is that you need to be already familiar with the bot or bots that you would like to include in your chats. That is why earlier we advised you to become familiar with the Kik bot shop. It is important, of course, to become familiar with how the shop works (the different Kik bot categories, etc.) but it is also equally important to know what bots you would want to use for certain situations so you can interact with the when you want to.
Why Would You Use Kik Bots in Group Chats?
Okay, if we have not convinced you yet of using Kik bots in your group chats it could be perhaps because you need some suggestions on how to use them.
This really depends on the nature of your group chats. For example, if your discussing some outdoor plans or a vacation, bringing a weather Kik bot into the conversation will probably be a great idea.
What follows are some Kik bot suggestions to use as part of your groups chats:
- Roll: this is a great Kik bot that you will find in the entertainment section of the Kik Shop. Roll is a game that involves exercising your coordination skills, so it is great to play with a group of friends. So, next time you feel a bit stuck for anything to say in a group, why not try playing Roll?
- GIF: GIFs are a great way to enhance chats and make them a lot funnier. Luckily, there is a Kik bot that would allow you to use GIF in your group chats. With the GIF keyboard, you will ne able to do this really easily. Your options are Riffsy GIF Keyboard, and Guggy GIF Message, both available at the Kik Shop.
- Tickers the Bot: this is another great game that you will be able to find in the games category at the Kik Shop. Tickers the Bot is great when you play by yourself, but it is even better with you play along with your friends.
- AskAny: you will find this bot in the entertainment section of the Kik shop. AskAny is an unlimited resource of questions for you to ask any of your Kik Messenger friends, making it a great bot for group chats.
- StyleSquad: this one is those among you who are into fashion, make up, and other beauty products. How about a girls’ night in with Kik!
These are just some suggestions but actually most Kik bots available at the Kik Shop would be suitable for Kik group chats. It really does depend on what you guys generally chat about. Having said that, we would really recommend you any of the game bots or pretty much everything under the entertainment category. The best way of knowing which bots would make your chats better would be to use them and see what works for you and your friends.
Also, one of the best ways to make your chats more fun is by using a combination of the chat enhancers available to you as part of the Kik Messenger experience. So, do not be afraid to try using bots, stickers, GIF, etc. with your friends.
If you have any feedback or further advice about using Kik bots as part of your group chats, why not leave us a message in the comments section below?