FunnyBone Technologies Inc (FBT) has introduced long-awaited functionality to its flagship automated social media delivery package, Mirth-24/7, promising 85% humour optimisation.
The update will mean “content suppliers will have greater data, control and modulation of amusement intensity so enabling them to extract the most value from their humorous material”.
Social media content suppliers have long struggled to deliver social media feeds that properly regulate amusement levels to maximise engagement and so return on investment. Perfectly reasonable gags can sometimes fall completely flat.
“What we realised is that our perception of humour is relative, so things which are not funny in normal life can appear funny or simply poignant in the right context,” says Jim Carpenter, chief context technician at FunnyBones.
Similarly, the Carpenter says, content which might be thought to be quite funny in a completely neutral context can seem “lame” if it is placed next to more dazzling material. This is potentially a waste.
“About 80% of material is mediocre, so we can’t waste it. Mirth-24/7 minimises the risk of us squandering solid but unremarkable stock material by featuring it in unfavourable conditions, which means it loses its value.”
The Funny Bone creates a multidimensional map of content interaction by running it past a representative panel of 10,000 volunteers in random orders and assessing their brain response. Mirth-24/7 is fed the resulting vector.
“The result is that we know what works with what and what does not. The interactions are complex and unpredictable. We can then use and AI to determine the best running order to deliver to different audience segments.”
In randomised control trials the Mirth-24/7 system delivered jokes at near 85% of optimum efficiency. Similar approach may one day be applied to create contexts to maximise other common social media criteria, like cuteness. ■