FacebookFB announced several new tools for creating and sharing audio on Monday. Similar to its move to video behind YouTube, the disappearance of photos after Snapchat, and short content on the heels of TikTok, Facebook is once again following the growth of a new medium and a new competitor. Audio has seen a resurgence with the rise of podcasts and more recently with live social audio on Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces.
Facebook wants to “treat audio as a premium medium the way we interact with photos and videos,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday in an interview with journalist Casey Newton on another group chat platform, Discord.
Facebook is working on its own live audio product called Live Audio Rooms and will be testing it in Facebook Groups. The company plans to make the feature available to everyone on Facebook this summer and include it in its messaging app, Messenger. Reddit also announced its own Clubhouse-esque product on Monday.
Podcasts are also coming to Facebook. People will soon be able to listen and discover new podcasts directly on the Facebook app, as they already can on alternative platforms such as SpotifyPLACE and Apple’s podcast app.
Another new product is called “Soundbites. They are audio clips that are short, like TikTok videos, but are instead audio-focused with captions. The feature will be available to select creators first, including comedian Drew Lynch and motivational speaker Molly Burke. .
Facebook also announced plans for creators to monetize these new audio tools. This includes billing for access to Live Audio Rooms and use of Facebook Stars, the tipping feature. The company is also launching an Audio Creator Fund to support those using the Soundbites feature.
Zuckerberg said on Monday that he likes audio because in theory people can consume it more easily while multitasking and also because the production is “more accessible”.
“A big part of the creative economy is empowering individuals,” said Zuckerberg. “I think that’s a positive trend in the world.”
