Ring Has a New Mission. ‘Hey, There’s Raccoons in My Backyard’

For years, Ring touted its crime-fighting bona fides, selling smart doorbells that let homeowners remotely monitor their residences — and sometimes share what they recorded with local police. Now the Amazon.com Inc. unit is looking to transform itself into a smart-camera business with a cheery social-media side hustle, sort of a mashup between Nextdoor and TikTok.

Previously users mostly shared videos of suspicious activity on Ring’s Neighbors app or browsed a map of police investigations. They still do, but now they’re more likely to post whimsical clips of pets, water balloon fights, a neighbor wearing a dinosaur costume.