Poynter: The Texas Tribune is using a Facebook Messenger bot to reach new audiences

Starting this week, people who want to know more about the Texas legislature have a new way to get information: a Facebook Messenger bot named Paige. 

The Texas Tribune's experiment is named after the legislative pages who run information back and forth, said Amanda Zamora, chief audience officer.

"They're your errand person," she said. "...It was sort of a nice nod to the actual legislative process without being inaccessible."

Zamora and the Tribune developed the bot with Andrew Haeg, founder of the community news messaging app GroundSource and a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

Unlike many bots, which simply connect Facebook messenger to content management systems maintained by news organizations, Paige is curated and has a different rhythm, Zamora said, delivering a look ahead on Mondays and a look back on Fridays.

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