Facebook plans to introduce an audio product to its platform, which makes them a competition to other social websites such as Twitter Inc. and the popular upstart Clubhouse.
The social media site is developing series of new audio-focused products, which includes virtual rooms where users can host live discussions, and a feature called “soundbites” that lets users post short audio snippets to their feed, according to Fidji Simo, head of the Menlo Park, California-based company’s main service.
Facebook will create an audio feature and a podcast feature that enables users to download and listen to podcasts directly on the app, which gives the company the chance to compete with the likes of Apple Inc.
“We have seen a massive rise of audio experiences” during the pandemic, Simo said, including an increase in voice calls and audio messages on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, which spurred the company to build the new products.
Audio conversation became an important medium through which people converse with users globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. This feature made Clubhouse a social platform popular as it host a live audio discussion that featured the big guys of the Silicon Valley
Recently, it secures a $4 billion valuation after Twitter failed to buy off the company.
According to a Bloomberg report “Clubhouse has done something phenomenal,” Simo said. “I’ve been working at Facebook for ten years so I know how hard it is to create a new social format.”
Twitter is also pushing aggressively towards adding audio feature to its social site called Twitter Spaces just as its competitor Clubhouse.
Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn and Slack Technologies Inc. are also working on audio rooms competitors as well.
