Investis Ltd.

04/20/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/20/2021 11:27

How Social Audio Apps Are Evolving Rapidly

For the past year, Clubhouse has enjoyed a spectacular run to become the premier social audio app. But Clubhouse no longer sits alone at the mountaintop. A number of niche apps have sprung up. And the big guns of social - Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter - are building their own social audio features. The marketplace is heating up, especially with the April 19 launch of Facebook's own social audio experience. Let's take a closer look.

More Social Audio Players Emerge

Social audio is a form of social media in which people communicate via audio on a shared app. Think chat rooms but with communication happening through real-time conversation (or singing), not via text or video. Easily the most visible social audio app is Clubhouse. Launched in 2020, Clubhouse has quickly grown to include 10 million weekly active users - up from 600,000 in December 2020. Clubhouse ascended quickly for a number of reasons, including the financial backing of high-profile venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the participation of public figures such as Elon Musk. Clubhouse members join different groups and participate in chat sessions called Rooms as often as they would like. Rooms are organized around topics ranging from trends in digital health to monetizing Instagram.

Since Clubhouse has exploded in popularity, the big social media players have quickly begun to build their own versions. On April 19, Facebook unveiled a number of audio experiences, including:

  • Live Audio Rooms, which should be available to everyone on the Facebook app by the summer. As the name implies, Live Audio Rooms consists of audio chat rooms similar to Clubhouse's.
  • Podcasts. Within a few months, Facebook users will be able to listen to podcasts directly on the Facebook app.
  • Soundbites: short-form, creative audio clips for capturing anecdotes, jokes, poems, and other moments of inspiration.

Facebook also said it will make it possible for users to monetize social audio, with details forthcoming.

Facebook's announcement was big, but it was not the first from the major players. In December 2020, Twitter launched its own social audio feature, Spaces, in beta mode. The product remains in testing, and only beta users can create their own Spaces at the moment. But, anyone on iOS and Android can join and listen in on a Space. Meanwhile, Reddit just launched a social audio feature, and LinkedIn is developing a social audio experience tied to a person's professional identity. Because Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter enjoy huge installed user bases, they could become major threats to Clubhouse, and Facebook in particular is skillful at monetizing that user base for brands.

At the same time, a number of smaller apps have arrived, each of them focusing on a niche experience. For example, Stationhead is a music-oriented app that is achieving rapid growth. Another social audio app growing more popular by the day is Quilt, which Ashley Sumner started as a community platform in which local people met up with one another in their own homes. Covid-19 put the kabosh on that model, so Sumner, after dabbling in Zoom meetups, developed an audio app that went live in January 2021. The app's mandate is wellness. Rooms fall into one of three different categories: spiritual and personal development; career and purpose; and relationships. Anyone can start a room, and engagement is high: Quilt says that 98 percent of hosts attend others' conversations, and more than 50 percent of participants talk during discussions. As Mayfield Fund partner Rishi Garg says, 'Part of the magic of Quilt is that everyone can feel like they have something to offer.'

Many more apps are gaining steam, too, including ones focused on sports and workplace issues. The only question is how many apps does the marketplace have room for?

What Should Brands Do about Social Audio?

Most social audio apps are not open for brands, technically, but as we discussed in a previous blog, the day is coming when that situation will change. Now is a great time to get involved through your thought leaders. Work with your subject matter experts to find social audio apps that position their expertise well. For example, a fitness brand might do well to have its own personal trainers participate in the many wellness chats that happen on Clubhouse every day. We also suggest that brands;

  • Learn from the audio-chat interface. Social audio can be a terrific way to sharpen one's speaking skills and then transfer those learnings to forms such as podcasts.
  • Rely on social audio as a cultural sounding board for topics entering the mainstream.

Ideally, your brand should be ready when the comes for businesses to participate more formally.

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