Facebook has announced its new series of audio features in the next few months. These are Soundbites, Podcast and Live Audio Rooms, which is Facebook’s version of the popular app Clubhouse that allows people to listen and participate in live conversations.
The CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the company’s plan to enter the social audio space. “We think that audio is also going to be a first-class medium,”
“Every once in a while a new medium comes along that can be adopted into a lot of different areas.” “I think that’s going to be true with these live audio rooms.” Zuckerberg told journalist Casey Newton in a conversation broadcast on Discord.
For the Facebook Soundbites feature, users can create and share “short audio clips for capturing anecdotes, jokes, moments of inspiration, poems, and many other things,” a statement on Facebook page read. The feature will be launched over the next few months, with a small number of creators.
Facebook Podcase feature will also allow users to listen to podcasts directly from the Facebook app. In a statement Facebook said: “We’re big believers in the power of short-form audio, we also know that some stories and conversations deserve more airtime.
“More than 170 million people are already connected to hundreds of thousands of podcast pages on Facebook, and more than 35 million people are members of fan groups around podcasts — but until now, you had to leave the Facebook app to listen to these episodes. Within the next few months, you’ll be able to listen to podcasts directly on the Facebook app — both while using the app or when the app is backgrounded.”
According to Facebook, users will be able to make money in the Live Audio Rooms or with Soundbites, though it’s unclear if this will be available to anyone or just reserved for creators with large followings.
It is unclear how Facebook plans to moderate the audio channels.