Since it first launched, the Amazon Echo has added over 100 new features and skills, and one of the latest brings Twitter integration to the smart home device. Using Amazon Echo skills, you can have your Twitter feed read to you with a few simple voice commands.

Step 1

Open your Alexa app on your phone and tap Skills in the sidebar. Search for Twitter Reader and tap Enable. You will then be prompted to log in to your Twitter Account.

Amazon-Echo-Twitter

Step 2

Once you've logged in to Twitter, you can then start using Alexa to interact with your Twitter account. These are the prompts you can use to find out what's going on on Twitter:

  • Alexa, open Twitter -- This will tell you how this Amazon Echo skills works.
  • Alexa, ask Twitter what is happening? -- This will read out the first three tweets in your feed and let you know who posted them. If a tweet has been retweeted it will be preceded by RT, and hashtags will be preceded by the word "Hashtag". Alexa will then give you the option to find out more about the accounts that posted those tweets, or to hear more tweets in your feed.
  • Alexa, ask for Twitter for trends -- You can find out what the trending topics are in the region based on your settings. You can hear specific tweets for a trend by saying "Tell me more about number X" -- just be sure to keep track of the numbers for each trend item.
  • Alexa, ask Twitter for trends in [Location] -- You can find out what the trending topics are in a specific region or city. 
  • Alexa, ask Twitter for my mentions -- You can hear your latest mentions on Twitter.
  • Alexa, ask Twitter for my own tweets -- You can hear the latest tweets you posted.

A few things to keep in mind on how this feature works: If you are bilingual on Twitter, Alexa will have some trouble reading out tweets. Tweets written in non-Latin characters simply aren't read. It can also be a rather tedious way to get through your Twitter feed, but if you want to avoid going down a Twitter rabbit hole, by keeping up with your Twitter feed while doing other things, this might be the way to do it.

If you decide you want to revoke access to your Twitter account go to Settings > Apps and look for "Twitter Skill by Alexa and Twitter integration" and click the Revoke Access button.

Would you use the Amazon Echo to keep up with your Twitter feed? Let us know in the comments.