Reddit Launches Reddit Talk, A New Clubhouse-Like Feature That Lets Moderators Host Live Audio Conversations In Their Communities

Source: Reddit

Reddit becomes the latest platform to enter the increasingly crowded social audio space. 

Following reports by Mashable, the self-proclaimed "front page of the internet" officially announced Reddit Talk, a new feature that lets moderators host live audio conversations in their communities.

"Currently, you can use text threads, images, videos, chats, and live streams to have conversations and hang out with people in your communities. While these are great mediums, there are other times where having a live audio talk may be more useful or, frankly, more fun. So we want to partner with you to explore a new way for community members to communicate with each other," the company said in a blog post. 

Source: Reddit

Early Stages Of Testing

Reddit Talk is in the early stages of testing. At the moment, only community moderators can host a Reddit Talk. During a talk, they can invite, mute, and remove speakers. They also can remove users from a talk entirely and prevent them from rejoining. Once a talk is live, any Reddit users can join the room to listen. Once in the room, they can raise their hand to indicate that they want to speak and react to what is being said with emojis.

Additionally, Reddit is testing a few ways to let hosts customize the look and feel of their Reddit Talk through emojis, background colors, and more.

Source: Reddit

Reddit sees Reddit Talk as a feature for "Q&As, AMAs, lectures, sports-radio-style discussions, community feedback sessions, or simply to give community members a place to hang out."

Moderators interested in trying out the feature for their community can apply to be added to the waitlist by filling out a form.

AMAs Are The Biggest Opportunity

As one would expect, Reddit Talk is very similar to Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, Locker Room, and other notable players in the social audio space. There isn't anything that stands out about the current Reddit Talk features or capabilities so far. However, Reddit is a community-first platform at its core, making it an excellent destination for social audio.

Subreddits are essentially text conversations between users around similar topics or interests. By adding the audio component, Redditors can have these conversations in real-time and deep dive into the topics they discuss. I see the biggest opportunity for Reddit Talk be centered around its highly popular AMAs, which tend to feature celebrities and other notable, influential figures doing candid Q&A sessions with users. AMAs in audio form would create a much more dynamic and immersive experience.

Another Way For Redditors To Connect

Overall, Reddit Talk is a good move for Reddit. It adds another way for users to communicate, engage, and connect. Even if it doesn't become a hugely utilized feature on the platform, Reddit addresses the emerging trend of social audio by providing users with a format for live conversations.

Although Reddit is the latest to battle Clubhouse, it certainly won't last. Clubhouse is undoubtedly the leader right now, but with so many platforms entering the space and much more likely joining, it's looking like social audio may be more of a feature versus a dedicated product.

Regardless of what happens, one thing for sure is that there’s going to be a boatload of audio-first creators that marketers can tap into.

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SOURCE: Reddit