Facebook now brings a new social audio experience to its users. This is the platform’s move to outcompete Clubhouse, a trending invite-only audio platform. With a record of 13 million downloads on its 1st anniversary, Facebook experimented on its clone which they called Hotline.
Audio-Only Rooms
Facebook’s new social audio experience now allows users to create audio-only Rooms on both Facebook Live and Messenger. Just like Clubhouse, audio-only Rooms allow multi-participants to join or tune in to the conversation. Audio-only Rooms can also be set as private or public. They are also featured within a Room discovery tab on Facebook. Audio-only Rooms are initially made available to Facebook Groups. Furthermore, creators can monetize such features by charging users who want to participate. This is a new option besides donation stickers.
Turning Facebook Live into Podcast
Another addition is the ability for Creators to turn a live conversation into a podcast. This is by integrating the podcast app on a Facebook page. As such, users can listen to a podcast directly on the Facebook app. Podcasters in turn can access a set of audio-creation tools to enhance their broadcast. These include Facebook’s collection of sound effects, filters, and voice effects. It’s like having a sound system in your pocket.
Soundbites
The best addition to Facebook’s new social audio experience is Soundbites. It’s a tool for short-form, creative audio clips using a range of sound effects and voice filters. Soundbites are great for capturing anecdotes, inspiration, jokes, poems, etc. This tool will initially be available to a selected number of creators to experiment with different concepts. Soundbites clips are a new format that you can post on Facebook.
Facebook brings a new social audio experience as of 19 April 2021.
Implications for Marketers:
Facebook’s new social audio experience can enhance connections among Facebook communities through audio engagement. For marketers, these are new ways to add on their strategy to further align with the social audio shift. With 2.74 billion monthly active users, it pays to experiment with different ad and content formats in the platform.
