Recode: Facebook to announce new audio products

Facebook will announce a series of products under the umbrella of "social audio" today, including its take on audio-chat app Clubhouse and a push into podcast discovery and distribution, Recode reported yesterday.

These plans include an audio version of Rooms, a video-conferencing product Facebook launched a year ago. The Clubhouse-like product will let groups of people listen to and interact with speakers on a virtual "stage", the report added.

Facebook will also launch a product allowing its users to record brief voice messages and post them in their newsfeeds, and a podcast discovery product that will be connected with Spotify, according to the report, which cited sources.

The announcement will be made soon, but some products will not show up for a while, the report added.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment. Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facebook started public testing of a new application dubbed Hotline earlier this month, where creators can speak and take live questions from an audience.

This Q&A product combines audio with text and video elements and comes as social media platforms experiment with a rush of new live audio features.

The success of the invite-only, year-old app Clubhouse, which has reported 10 million weekly active users, has demonstrated the potential of audio chat services, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Twitter Inc has been testing its audio feature Spaces and Facebook is also dabbling with a live audio room offering within its Messenger Rooms.

- Reuters

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