Social media giant, Facebook, has officially launched its Clubhouse clone – live audio rooms.
It started testing the feature with public figures and creators based in Taiwan in May 2021 and is now officially rolling out in the US. The Social Media giant had earlier given this announcement in April saying, “We’re going to start testing Live Audio Rooms and we expect it to be available to everyone on the Facebook app by the summer.”
Public figures and select Facebook Groups in the US can create Live Audio Rooms on iOS, and select podcasts will be available to listeners in the US.
Facebook’s rollout of the live audio rooms follows the explosive success of the invite-only live audio app, Clubhouse during the COIVID-19 pandemic last year. Other tech companies have launched their own version of the app – Spotify’s Greenhouse, Twitter’s Spaces.
Live Audio Rooms
Live Audio Rooms on Facebook enable you to discover, listen in on and join live conversations with public figures, experts and others about topics you’re interested in. Public figures can invite friends, followers, verified public figures, or any listeners in the room to be a speaker. The host can invite speakers in advance or during the conversation. There can be up to 50 speakers, and there’s no limit to the number of listeners.
In Groups, admins can control whether moderators, group members or other admins can create a Live Audio Room. In public Groups, both members and visitors can listen to the Live Audio Room, but in private Groups, only members can listen.
People on iOS and Android can discover Live Audio Rooms to join from places like News Feed and via notifications. You can also sign up to be reminded when a Live Audio Room you’re interested in goes live. When listening to a conversation, you’ll be notified when friends or followers join, too. You can enable live captions, “raise a hand” to request to join the conversation, and use reactions to participate in real time.
Listeners can also offer support and show appreciation to the public figure host of the Live Audio Room by sending Stars, which bumps those listeners up to the “front row.” The “front row” is a special section that highlights people who sent Stars, so hosts can recognize supporters (and maybe even give them a shout out during the conversation!). Listeners can purchase Stars packs during the conversation and send them anytime.
Facebook says it will expand the ability for more public figures and Groups to host a Live Audio Room and introduce new features for both experiences in the coming months.
