Inspired by Haikuleaks, Jacob Harris, senior software architect of New York Times, rolled out an algorithm that captures fragments from stories published. Times Haiku, as Harris notes may be ‘a machine with no aesthetic sense’ but the ‘algorithm is its muse’. It basically is a script built to mine stories for ‘haiku-friendly’ words and then rearranges them to form poetry. While some haikus drudge along, the interesting ones are picked by the editors and published.
Automation is creeping in at a greater speed, much to the discomfort of marketers. If bots are used in a right way and sensitively, the outcome can be great. A Twitter bot that automates and schedules posts is beneficial only if the tweets are original, if the content is not relevant; it automatically is categorized as spam.
While it is inevitable to automate, marketers today cannot escape the magic of personalization. With customers becoming more conscious, demanding, vocal and powerful, keeping it real may seem the only way out in the future.
Whatever said and done, the Times Haiku is an interesting initiative. We couldn’t resist trying it out. Here’s our streak of Zen on data mining:
Data mining hurricanes
soothing seas of the P2P touch
gold and dollars rain.
While content marketing is going bots, we also need to keep it real, keep it simple and keep it relevant to our target audience. ‘The Big Marketing Activity Coloring Book’, is an interesting example of unadulterated marketing, where having fun is serious business.
P.S. - Fingers crossed that bots don’t become the only ones writing, as our essence is hard to replace!
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