This is logical but still gives me pause. Yes, Google might be able to do this for me, but what fun would that be? How empty it would be to think you were tweeting or playing Facebook comment games with a friend, only to discover your friend was an algorithm…

The basic gist of the patent is that Google knows so much about you (the patent application specially mentions using data from “e-mail, SMS, social networks, and other systems”) that it could “generate personalized reactions” on social media on your behalf. It’s not quite fully automated—the patent, which was first spotted by the BBC, does mention keeping a human in the loop, with a UI popping up and asking for approval for each tweet. A fully automated version could get quite creepy quite fast. Imagine signing up for it and dying—then you would be tweeting from beyond the grave! (via Tired of social media? Why not have Google tweet for you | Ars Technica)