How Will Voice Search Change The Social Media World

In 2014, a Google conducted study revealed that 55% of teenagers as well as 41% of adults were eagerly using voice search capabilities. With those statistics having risen in the recent years, it is estimated that roughly 20% of all mobile searches are conducted using voice search.

What does this mean for the future? More and more individuals will be expecting voice related features within their technology usage. Companies like Facebook and Amazon are already ahead of the curve with regards to this trend. Likewise, it’s going to become imperative for social media to adapt as well.

Embedded Social Media Features

In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, in what was at the time the largest purchase ever for a venture-backed company. WhatsApp being one of the largest data based texting services has evolved and grown as a huge communication network.

One prime feature that the service has touted is the ability to record and send voice messages over wireless data. One might ask why a texting service would incorporate a voice messaging system, especially when voice calls are already a part of it. Convenience plays a large part in this decision process.

Facebook’s own Messenger service also got similar functionality in a similar move. The messenger being the messaging service most tightly embedded with Facebook, it’s its own social media service. Linking directly with Facebook users’ smartphone contacts list and SMS messages, it’s as close to an all-in-one experience as there is.

All-inclusive Living Technology

Google and Amazon have both taken major steps to dominate the entire home experience with voice technology. Google with Google Home, and Amazon with Alexa. Both tools work in similar ways to become hands-free access to the same voice features consumers use on their mobile devices.

Google has always gone all-in with its social media efforts. Google+ was their largest social brand push, and many of their services are still integrated with its after-effects. While in its current state, it is not as tightly integrated with the individual service, as a whole Google is entirely social.

For Android users, their contact lists, message history, emails, voice mails – their entire persona, is embedded in Google. To have access to everything you do digitally when you’re rooms away from your computer or phone is a massive departure from pre-existing technology.

Amazon too is encroaching on this concept. Alexa scans conversations and begins to make context-sensitive cues ready in order to predict users’ needs.

Both services were designed with the core concept of allowing people to be more social by having means of communication and media consumption at the mere sound of your voice.

The future of social media and how we use our voice are tightly linked. The day is quickly approaching when voice-operated features won’t just be options but standards we rely on. As mobile technology improves, we’ll get to see just how this convenience affects our daily lives.