The Demographic Replicator I want for Christmas is..

We've asked Market Research experimenter/Communication Planning Explorer and facilitator of brands narrative needs, John Griffiths to chip in with the DGR commentary and development. Here his first post with a couple of demands.



It really is a bit like that. The urge to play to combine simple elements to see what complicated behaviours emerge. And if some kind of Turing test is passed, will the bot be believable.

So here's my wishlist. Which probably reflects my having studied philosophy a long time ago. Bootstrapping and counterexample figure large.

1/ Social media geek. Twitter and blogdom are awash with them. So it shouldn't be too hard to mug up a bot which talks the talk. This should be straightforward enough from keywords. What I want to find out is whether the bot will be insightful, hilarious or a bore. And right now I really can't call it. So try and see what happens.

2/ Call me crass and commercial but the reality show which still grips the teen audience is The X Factor. And thar's money involved. So why not have an The X Factor groupie aged around 15 who watches the show and all the add-ons religiously, votes every week and still things the show is about talent. We could tune the bot towards a fave judge - I favour Cheryl though a conflict of interest between a critical Cheryl and a pet vocalist might also be worth a look. The point about this bot is that we don't just want an enthusiast for the show but one for whom opinions matter

These 2 represent 2 extremes. One commercial - because if every TV show had its complement of fanbots well I'd say that's a monetisation strategy. And if this Demo Graphic Replicator thing is to work then we may as well take a risk and make Pygmalion. Easy to pick demographic splinters we enjoy patronising.

But how like us could we make a bot. And would we like it if we did? And could we recognise ourselves? The ultimate Turing test.

John on Twitter.