Facebook will challenge Clubhouse and allow voice messages to be posted on the news feed
Facebook wants users to start talking and listening through its services. The resource Vox Media, citing its sources, said that the social network plans to present a series of products (some of which will not be released immediately) under the auspices of “social audio.” These include Facebook’s Clubhouse counterpart and an attempt to enter the podcast sector through Spotify.
Facebook audio plans purportedly include:
- Rooms audio – this video conferencing service was launched a year ago when the pandemic spurred the massive adoption of Zoom;
- a Clubhouse-style product that allows groups of people to listen to and interact with speakers on a virtual “stage”;
- the ability for Facebook users to record short voice messages and post them to their news feeds, as they can now with text, pictures, and videos;
- a podcast search product that will be linked to Spotify, which has invested heavily in podcasting over the past couple of years, is unclear if Facebook intends to do more than offer its users to listen to podcasts Spotify.
It is unclear when all of these products will go public, but announcements should be made soon. According to sources, the audio version of Rooms is likely to be released immediately. In contrast, other products, according to sources, may not appear until the end of this spring, even in beta format.
Facebook is not the only major player to take an interest in the idea of developing audio services: Twitter has already launched Spaces, its variation of Clubhouse. And Apple is preparing a new podcast subscription service that could be announced in the coming days.
