Twitter has now officially started testing its new ‘Spaces’ audio-based chat feature, although the testing appears to be in a very limited state at the moment. Recently, Twitter has been looking at ways it can improve how s communicate “what’s happening” with each other, but not all of them have worked out quite as the company had hoped. At present, it remains to be seen if Spaces will prove to be a popular addition to the platform or even make it out of its experimental status.
Spaces send voice messages as Tweets. At the moment, voice Tweets are still only available through the iOS Twitter app.
Unlike voice Tweets, Spaces looks to create more of a real-time audio chat experience and for multiple people. In a Twitter thread, the official Spaces confirmed the feature was now in testing, but currently reserved to a “very small group.” In explaining the feature, Spaces was likened to a dinner party experience, with the suggestion although all of the party might not know each other, the space in which they are chatting is comfortable for all those involved.
Will Twitter’s Spaces Prove To Be A winner?
Like many social media services, and especially in 2020, Twitter has been looking for new ways for s to engage. However, they haven’t all worked out as planned. In the build up to the Presidential election, Twitter started to place a greater emphasis on quote Tweets than retweets, in the hope s would provide more context to the messages they were sharing. Yet, the company recently announced it was disappearing messages remained on the platform, but it also remains to be seen how popular Fleets are in general, considering it is more of an imported feature than one designed from the ground up with Twitter in mind.
In some ways, Twitter’s new Spaces is running along a similar path to Fleets and, as a result, may encounter similar issues and concerns. Like Fleets, the general idea is not quite as experimental as Twitter suggests, with numerous comparisons having already been made between Spaces and Clubhouse. Just like Spaces, Clubhouse is an has been for Clubhouse, as well as video-calling services in general in 2020, including Zoom.
Factors like these make it unclear whether Spaces will become a useful addition to the Twitter platform. This is likely why Spaces is being tested in such a limited capacity with the company more feeling out how s respond and the limitations, and also why Twitter actively refers to Spaces as another “experiment.”
Source: Spaces/Twitter