From the Amazon job description:
The Managing Editor, News will work on an exciting new opportunity within Ring to manage a team of news editors who deliver breaking crime news alerts to our neighbors.
Struggling to wrap my head around the implications here. Is this a publicity campaign? Is this part of a data-mining scenario? Is there money in the picture, or is this a pure loss for Amazon, pulled from the Ring marketing budget?
Is this the new crime beat?
Depends on how effectively they can stoke unreasonable fear.
I’ve seen FB ads showing Ring-taken photos of package thieves.
“Get a Ring and get evidence to bust the asshole taking your Amazon packages” is not the worst way to sell them.
Yeah, this is a loss leader to sell Ring and, I’m sure, other stuff in the future. “Keep up to date with what’s happening in your neighborhood” isn’t a bad way to spin it. Think the hyperlocal boomlet of a decade ago but focused on crime because fear sells (look at almost any Nextdoor neighborhood site).