Nonhuman communicators are challenging the prevailing conceptualizations of technology-mediated team communication. Slackbot is a social bot that can be configured to respond to trigger words and, thus, take part in discussions on the platform. A set of 84 bot-related communication episodes were identified from a journalistic team’s Slack messages (N = 45,940) and analyzed utilizing both qualitative content analysis and interaction process analysis (IPA). This integrated mixed-methods analysis revealed novel insights into the micro-level dynamics of human–machine communication in organizational teams. In response to Slackbot’s greetings, acclamations, work-related messages, and relational messages, we identified how the team members respond to the bot, discuss it, and summon it to appear on the platform. Further, the IPA revealed that the bot-related communication episodes are shaped by the bot’s responses toward more socioemotional and personal functions. Findings suggest that a team-configured social bot can manifest and facilitate relational team communication.

中文翻译：

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Slacking with the Bot：虚拟团队互动中的可编程社交机器人

非人类沟通者正在挑战以技术为媒介的团队沟通的普遍概念。Slackbot 是一个社交机器人，可以配置为响应触发词，从而参与平台上的讨论。从新闻团队的 Slack 消息 (N = 45,940) 中识别出一组 84 个与机器人相关的通信事件，并使用定性内容分析和交互过程分析 (IPA) 进行分析。这种综合的混合方法分析揭示了对组织团队中人机沟通的微观动态的新见解。为了响应 Slackbot 的问候、鼓掌、工作相关消息和关系消息，我们确定了团队成员如何响应、讨论并召唤它出现在平台上。进一步，IPA 透露，与机器人相关的交流事件是由机器人对更多社会情感和个人功能的反应所塑造的。研究结果表明，团队配置的社交机器人可以体现并促进关系团队沟通。