This article is being written (20 March 2020)
Finding a book
If you want to read a book, you probably go directly to Amazon as a strategy to conserve your attention and money, on the basis that Amazon will certainly have the book and you will probably get it at the best price. Amazon has worked very hard to be this default choice for you so that it can tax all of our transactions.
With offerbots you could send your offerbot to check the ten nearest bookstores, the three nearest libraries, your friends, your family and the neighborhood swap group to see whether anyone has a copy of the book that they’re happy to sell or lend to you – all in a couple of seconds.
And if none of those people do, maybe then you might go to Amazon.
Finding information
If you’re looking for information on a topic, you probably go to Google. That’s fine for finding a fact – how quickly a cheetah runs, say – but it’s a poor choice for finding a precise or nuanced resource.
With offerbots you could send your offerbot to check your chosen set of universities, academics and publications for papers written on a particular topic within a certain date range.
Social networks
If you want to keep in touch with your friends, you probably use Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, TikTok or another social network. This provides a strong feedback loop (which is good for staying in contact) but is blighted by advertising, gamification and unwanted notifications.
With offerbots you could share private content with your friends and then each of you can view it however you see fit. You might choose to receive an email with friends’ posts on Friday afternoons when you’re winding down from work. Your friends might choose to receive a notification each morning at 8am to start their day. Or you might all decide to do the same thing (e.g. to receive notifications instantly).
You might choose a feed which shows every post (like Twitter) or shows a subset (like Facebook). You might want to see the pictures or the text. You might choose every post from one friend and the most popular posts from another.
Either way, you and your friends decide what you see and do (and not Mark Zuckerberg).