Journalists Should Pay Attention to Amazon Echo
Journalism has a new stage — screenless and hands-free smart devices.
Devices such as voice-controlled speakers are providing a new way to deliver the news without opening an app or turning on the television.
The Amazon Echo and Google Home are speakers that double as home assistants. While they have very similar abilities, Amazon Echo is able to tap into third party services (such as news sources) while Google Home is still limited. Amazon Echo also have over 1,000 ‘skills’ that users can request. Without even pressing a button, the device can answer basic math problems, update a grocery list and give you the latest news headlines.
So far, the average person’s voice control experience has probably been with Apple’s Siri. But devices like the Amazon Echo setup with Alexa are slowly making their way into people’s everyday lives and stepping up the voice control game.
People have been getting their headlines from screenless technology for decades.
People have been getting their headlines from screenless technology for decades. As radio turned to radio apps and podcasts, adapting to screenless news platforms is not something radical for journalists. It’s the context that this news is being delivered that is new.
One of the biggest challenges to devices like these is that without a screen, users will have to remember the abilities of the device and the command to prompt the request.
Software like Alexa is connecting smart technology into all aspects of our lives. Many people are calling devices like Amazon Echo or Google Home your “new best friend”. This kind of language has been used in the past for things like our mobile devices, however we don’t typically buy a phone or tablet because it has software like Siri. Alexa is more of a focal point in a device like Amazon Echo.
It raises the questions…
Does news from the Echo require a different kind of storytelling?
Is there a great potential for journalists beyond just submitting the same headline that was read on the nightly news?
And we may not have the answers yet as media is catching up with this technology.
Users often consume news content on the Echo during a “flash briefing.” According to Amazon, a flash briefing “provides a quick overview of news and other content” by simply prompting Echo with a command. As of right now, Echo will read back headlines from major news organizations. Alexa “skills” are open to any developer which means anyone from big media companies to any independent developer can create content for the Alexa skill.
Flash Briefing sources are also trying to incorporate more local news sources for users. Amazon provides a page for developers that explains how to create these briefings.
A device like Amazon Echo cannot give you news notifications the way your mobile phone does. You have to prompt the device with a voice command to read you these flashes. However, opening the door to all developers, any news organization can create a news briefing to be read to consumers on the Echo. This can be open opportunity for media developers to get their content out there.
Something else that makes a device like the Echo unique is that it is always listening. Could information like what time of day you typically ask what the weather is or items you consistently put on your grocery list tell media corporations anything about how they should cater content to you? A device always listening in your home may also cause privacy concerns and ethical issues.
While using Amazon Echo, you are having a conversation. A structured conversation — but a conversation.
You talk to Alexa and Alexa responds.
So if you are getting your news on a device created to converse with its users, then you should suspect that news outlets creating content for this device will begin to cater to this. The broadcast style used in radio and podcasts can easily be transferred to the Echo’s new flashes.
However, the same headlines read on the evening news may not transfer over well to the Echo in your kitchen while making dinner. Journalists should consider what the best way to deliver news into people’s private homes and lives.
It will be interesting to see which other screenless devices pop up in the coming years and how news outlets will cater their content to those devices and their users. As smart devices slowly blur the lines between our homes, lives and technology, it will be interesting to see how journalists will respond.
