Okay Google, who’s a refugee?
You may have received one as a Christmas gift. Smart speakers are changing how we consume information. What does it mean for the advocacy of organizations like UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency?
Okay Google, how many refugees are there? Hey Alexa, do refugees help the economy? You can now ask these questions out loud while laying on your sofa or to settle a debate at the dinner table. A box on the other side of the room will provide the answer — if you are the owner of a smart speaker.
Voice-activated devices, powered by intelligent assistants like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, are growing faster than the smartphone at a similar stage of development. Some see it as a first move away from screens. According to the Pew Research Center, one-quarter of Americans own a smart speaker. The device is most popular among 18 to 29-year-old.
What do people use smart speakers for? Mostly to simplify small tasks like playing music, getting weather updates or setting alarms. But, smart speakers are also used to obtain answers to general questions and hear the news.
Until now, people would type their questions into the search bars of Google or Bing and get a list of links redirecting to websites. With smart speakers, people only hear one answer, extracted from the page that ranks higher in search results. Alexa runs on the Bing search engine; Google Home on Google Search.
Why should we care about this trend? Because smart speakers are changing how we consume information. And information is key to influencing behaviors and policies. Here are 5 ways to adapt advocacy efforts to the rise of smart speakers:
1. Build web content around frequent searches
The first thing advocacy organizations can do is create online content that smart speakers will re-use. If you follow a few SEO good practices and there isn’t too much competition on the query, chances are your content will be ranked first and picked up by smart speakers.
What’s important is to create content based on evidence rather than assumptions. Tools like Google Trends or Answer the Public reveal what people search about refugees: Can refugees choose where to go? How to help refugees? Why do refugees have smartphones? Are refugees migrants? Will refugees go back to Syria? These frequently asked questions deserve an answer. And the answer is likely to shape people’s perceptions.
2. Let other trusted voices answer
Sometimes, it is better to let other trusted voices answer. There is no need to always be in the spotlight if others effectively help achieve your advocacy objectives.
For example, when people search about refugees’ impact on the economy, answers from economists or business owners may be more authoritative than answers from UNHCR, which may be perceived as biased. Currently, Google Home redirects to an article by Brookings, a research institution, which reviews existing data to explain why accepting refugees is a win-win formula.
Likewise, when people search about a fake or distorted news story related to refugees, fact-checking organizations may do a better job of investigating and deconstructing the story. A Facebook video claiming that an American teenager was jailed for killing a refugee who had raped his sister generated a spike of search back in 2018. Fact-checking sites like Snopes.com or FactCheck.org explain why the news is fake; they rank first on the query.
3. Improve content on Wikipedia
We often forget the most obvious platforms. Smart speakers heavily rely on Wikipedia to provide brief answers to general questions.
Organizations that advocate for refugees or other causes may consider updating sections of Wikipedia to include factual information they are uniquely positioned to provide. However, Wikipedia has a set of rules to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure it doesn’t become a space for self-promotion. Employees should disclose the relationship to their organization and make suggestions on the talk pages of Wikipedia rather than update articles directly.
4. Create your own bot
It is possible to create bots directly linked up to Google Home or Alexa. Creating one requires mapping hundreds of commonly asked questions, worded differently, and providing corresponding answers. Bots can be made directly available on Google Home or Alexa, but require a special voice command, e.g. “Okay Google I want to talk to UNHCR’s Q&A platform.”
It seems unlikely that people would be sufficiently interested in refugee issues to remember a specific voice-command that redirects them to a UNHCR-designed bot. But a chatbot (messaging based rather than voice based) dedicated to answering questions about refugees may constitute a good tool for specific audiences: e.g. employees of UNHCR and NGOs, journalists, policy-makers, professors and students…
5. Partner with news media
Smart speakers are becoming gateways for accessing news. Although only one in five people currently use the news briefing functionality on a daily basis, news consumption on smart speakers is expected to increase together with the quality of news briefings, according to a Reuters Oxford report.
At the moment, smart speakers provide news briefings from default providers: BBC in the UK or ARD in Germany. Few users know they can change their default options. Knowing this, organizations that advocate for refugees should prioritize targeting news organizations that have an edge on smart speakers.
Smart speakers are an interesting evolution. They take us away from screens. But they also disrupt how we consume information and raise privacy concerns. Businesses are already riding the trend as smart speakers can be used to order goods online. Humanitarian and development actors shouldn’t stay behind. As more people make smart speakers ubiquitous in their homes and turn to them for information, who will shape the answers they receive?
