The news had been awaited for months. In particular from December, when the Twitter Spaces had made their debut and the international boom of Clubhouse began, to tell the truth rather weakened in recent weeks (it moves around 12 million global users, 500 thousand in Italy). Even Facebook – which has a kind of obsession in order to replicate the most successful features of competing platforms – has presented new features that insert the dimension of the voice into the mother-platform of the social network ecosystem, of the direct audio only in which anyone at the listening can raise your hand and take the floor and podcast. A possibility that appeared to be saving in times of lockdown and social life devoid of stimuli and commitments but which will have to flow back towards natural spaces, such as the dead times of travel or displacements or with a more structured schedule, with the resumption of a richer, linked routine the success of vaccination campaigns in many countries of the world.
“We think audio will obviously be a first-class channel, and there are so many different products to build across this front,” Zuckerberg told reporter Casey Newton on Monday on Discord’s dedicated server Sidechannel. In short, an articulated trend that goes well beyond Clubhouse with a series of tools that over the months and years will decline the audio dimension of Facebook sociality in different ways. The first was predictable: an audio-only version of Rooms, the social rooms launched a year ago during the first wave of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic. They are called Live Audio Rooms and the tests will begin shortly passing mainly from the groups and pages of public figures: they should be available to everyone by the summer on both Facebook and Messenger. This is as close to Clubhouse as possible even if the details are not yet clear. It is not clear if and how much you can ask to speak, you don’t know the limits of the audience and other details.
The second is a kind of digital recording studio available to anyone: “Just like we did with photos and videos, we want everyone to have access to tools sophisticated enough to be considered professional but also intuitive and fun – reads a official blog post – how to have a recording studio in your hands “. Basically all the technologies that the platform already has, from “spatial audio” to “voice morphing” to voice recognition and improvement of the quality of the recordings will be combined with others in a single tool audio creation, obviously usable within the Facebook app. Users will thus be able to record from the middle of a busy street without fear of background noise, select tracks from the Facebook audio library and use them as the background of a Story or mix different songs and funny sound and vocal effects to package a content to post.
The first practical application of these tools will be the Soundbites: short voice messages – but, in fact, not only – to be re-launched on the bulletin board. In short, just as today you write or publish photos, videos and gifs, it will soon be possible to entrust Menlo Park with your voice and other contents that will compose a sort of parallel sound flow. Even this one feature it had been talked about for years but the announcement presents it extremely enriched, very different from the simple vocal contents of Twitter. “We will start testing Soundbites with a small number of creators in the coming months, so as to refine the product with their help before making it available to everyone – explains Menlo Park – to begin with, we are collaborating with some creators to experiment with different ideas. comedian Drew Lynch, who shares his outbursts and food reviews in ASMR; or Lolo Spencer, advocate of accessibility, who shares inspirational phrases and quotes daily; or Tobe Nwigwe, visionary and entrepreneur, who shares his “convos with Tobe “, discussing authorship and what it feels like to be a first-generation Nigerian American; Molly Burke, a blind motivator, sharing stories about how to overcome adversity; and Josh Sundquist, author and comedian, while using vocal effects to enrich his imitations and narrations. There are truly endless possibilities. We can’t wait to hear these Soundbites. “
Another inevitable front is that of podcasts. Facebook will also become a platform for discovering and listening to longer, elaborate and professional content. In this sense, the partnership with Spotify (codenamed Boombox) has been confirmed which, just to make things a little more complex in this truly fibrillating area, is about to launch its many audio tools, chat included: a few weeks ago it made official the acquisition of the startup Betty Labs, in turn incubator of Locker Room, a live audio app on the sports world (it is called “Dressing Room”) whose nature may also be declined on other topics. In short, over the next few months, users will be able to listen to podcasts – but also their favorite playlists – with a player directly on Facebook both while using the app and when they leave it, leaving it in the background. And, again without leaving the social network, they will be able to find the programs most in line with their interests. The usual golden enclosure increasingly rich in intertwining and proposals.
“Words, sound and language are the basic elements of our contact with others – continues Facebook – that’s why quality audio experiences can be engaging and intimate at the same time. They make us feel as if we were in a room with our friends and family, sitting at the table, even if miles away. Audio fits perfectly into our busy lives, allows us to be inspired by new ideas and to talk to other people who share our same interests without any pressure. We can share a personal story or join a global conversation as we want, anytime, anywhere, even if our hair is messy or we are without makeup, if we are driving or running. “
What I seem to understand is that all of these opportunities are born to hold on to each other, not as discrete and separate tools. An example? The live audio of the creators can easily turn into a podcast episode that everyone can listen to again when they have time and desire (an aspect that deeply separates the new creatures of Facebook from Clubhouse, whose use is much more ephemeral). Or, pieces and fragments of an audio live in the Rooms or even a podcast can be transformed into Soundbites available to anyone, to publish them just like today you share a quote or an article, and discuss it with your friends. All these audio experiences will also have subtitles, to make them accessible to everyone and maybe even follow them (it seems absurd but it is already the logic with which we often browse stories on Instagram) in mute. In perspective, the audio ecosystem of the social network, which was born in a somewhat chaotic way, will end up in a single section dedicated to listening.
Monetization chapter. As we’ve seen, Clubhouse just launched Payments, its program to reward the most successful creators and speakers. Even Facebook, which in the United States already allows some forms of monetization, knows that “the only way for this to work in the long term is to give creators the opportunity to make profits from their work”. Already in the launch phase, those who commit to content of this type can be paid. For example, fans will be able to support public figures or creators in Live Audio Rooms through the Stars, evidently digital currencies to be converted into hard cash, or by donating to causes they are fond of. You can buy a single ticket for access to the audio rooms or take out a subscription. “Finally, to kick off Soundbited, we are introducing a fund to support audio creators, to support emerging talent in this industry and get initial feedback on the new product experience.”
How will Facebook moderate everything that happens in the endless live audio rooms or in the plethora of audio fragments that will circulate on the message boards, since it has always struggled to deal with texts, photos and videos? “We have some experience,” Zuckerberg replied to Newton’s question on the point, referring to the set of tools based on artificial intelligence and the success in moderating live videos. Who knows if they will be enough.
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