Twitter has finally announced that it is rolling out its new
audio feature ‘Spaces’ to all its users. The feature will be available on both
iOS and Android.
mic on 🎙️ tap in
— Twitter (@Twitter) May 3, 2021
Twitter Spaces is rolling out to more people! now everyone can tap in to join a Space and more of you can host pic.twitter.com/ReSbKTlDCY
When Spaces was launched, it was available to a limited
number of users as it was still under testing, which was back in March. Spaces is
more like Twitter’s replica of Clubhouse, the platform that Android users
couldn’t access, and so part of Twitter’s plan to expand Spaces to Android was
inspired from the lack of availability of Clubhouse for Android.
Twitter explains that Spaces will be offered to users with at least 600 followers, which would suggest that these users “are likely to have a good experience hosting live conversations because of their existing audience.”
However, the 600 followers limit is a clever move by
Twitter, as Clubhouse has the same limitation; the only difference being that
while it is a technical limitation in Clubhouse, that is not the case with
Spaces. It is just Twitter’s way of adding some amount of FOMO and exclusivity,
so as to create excitement among users without access to the feature, before
they too are able to host their own Space.
The 600 followers limit was, nevertheless, a key element in
Clubhouse’s growth, as it caused it to become a platform for the coolest of users
who could secure a much-coveted app invite, hence boosting Clubhouse’s initial
momentum and making audio social the next big thing.
It looks like, though, that Clubhouse could lose its
momentum with Twitter taking over. Potential Clubhouse users can even start
their own Spaces on Twitter without even downloading the Clubhouse app.
