On May 18, Google brought hundreds of developers together for Google I/O, its annual developer conference. Hot topics included artificial intelligence, natural language processing, voice recognition, translation and new product announcements — Google Home, Google assistant and Allo.
Maybe you’ve heard about some of these, but I’m going to share thoughts on how you should adapt your local marketing to these developments. But first, a brief recap of some of these announcements.
Google Home is Google’s answer to Amazon’s Echo. It’s a voice-activated speaker-like device that can intelligently listen to commands, return answers to queries from Google Search, control home automation, play music and set appointments using a new platform called Google assistant.
Allo is Google’s new messaging app. It uses integrated machine learning and continues to learn your style over time, making it more convenient for users to get things done — make reservations, list tasks, schedule meetings and so on. It also features Smart Reply, which offers suggested replies based on the message content. Allo integrates with the new Google assistant platform, allowing you to easily search for the information you need.
These new product announcements signify a change in the way information is sought and delivered. In a previous article, “No More Typing: How to Prepare for the Next Wave of Voice Search,” I mentioned that as of October 2014, 41 percent of adults and 55 percent of teens used Siri, Google Now or Cortana voice search at least once a day.
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, has revealed that half of the search engine’s queries are from mobile devices, and a fifth of those are made via voice search. Search is moving beyond typing into a white box to bringing Google to wherever you are — desktop, walking around your home, using your phone. Your voice is the new search tool.
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