Alexa is the New Social Media

We’ve experienced social media centered around pictures, videos, and text. How about sound? Voice integration? AI? Social media is evolving. Could its next frontier tackle voice integration? Voice technology, like Alexa, Google Home, Siri - okay, just kidding, not Siri – could revolutionize platforms. Waves of this revolution already churn beneath current social platforms.

Alexa and Google Home are also two of the fastest growing networks of AI-bots and user-centered platforms. According to ComScore, by next year, 50% of all searches will be by voice.

So, the network exists. Those “Answer Boxes” you always see on Google searches fuel the answers for Google Home. Those Amazon Choice products found online are the same products that Alexa offers to her users. The technology is here and the add-ons are in pre- and post-production.

These “add-ons” construct Alexa’s Skills and Google Home’s Actions Environment. Skills and Actions function as resources to reduce consumer friction. They allow users to download companies’ “app-like” tech to order an Uber or listen to a step-by-step breakdown of how to remove a stain using Tide. In the past year, Alexa’s Skills blew up, with major corporations creating their own “add-ons” to attract new business. And, with Alexa offering direct, screenless access to the world’s largest department store, shopping and socializing will be all in one.

Skills and Actions will open up the necessary gateways that can synthesize voice technology with the interactive components of social media. Think of an Alexa social media Skill sending you a voice message from Chrissy Teigen on John Legend’s newest album. Ariana Grande dropping her newest album through Alexa. Your best friend calling you to cancel on the Cheesecake factory. Boom: Amazon’s in business with a fully functioning, voice-based social media platform.

And, isn’t it such a more intimate social media experience? No filters, no captions, no posts just for the aesthetic, and no need to do all the work of grabbing your phone and opening an app.

Alexa: no consciousness required.

Imagine a future, when you’re chopping onions, brewing coffee, or even writing an email. You ask Alexa for your “Flash Briefing." You haven’t heard from @badgalriri in a bit, so you ask, “Alexa, what’s Rihanna’s newest post?” Rihanna answers, “Hey, new Fenty collection out Friday! Album out soon!”

This all from the same device you can ask to buy you toothpaste. Yet, different from the Amazon site, Alexa is more instinctive. She’s just there, she doesn’t need to be pulled up or clicked on like a site homepage. Social media in conjunction with Alexa’s human element intensifies that intimate relationship between seller and customer, creating the perfect storm for disruption in the social media arena.

Connectivity will become more natural, yet without all those gross, dated in-person requirements. Interaction will feel more digitized, but also more extensive and inclusive (if you can afford it). Furthermore, if Amazon and Google continue to capitalize on the addiction of consumers to buy the latest and hippest means of communication, this extensive network is almost built into the business model.

More buys, more users, more community. In turn, more buys.

Voice technology becomes more “necessary” with more users. And, with more users, Alexa and other voice technologies gather more data and more of a human touch.

Alexa seems kind and knowledgeable. She is powerful, connected, and will play Ariana’s “God is a Woman” all day if you ask her. She doesn’t care what you ask; she doesn’t judge. She’s confident that way. She just listens and records. No need for extraneous tech. No need for her to be alive or in your face with a harsh screen.

She’s simple; she’s social. And soon, she might be social media.