Twitter appears to be testing a new podcast tab. Evidence of this can be seen in a photo tweeted by Jane Manchun Wong, a Reverse Engineer with researcher Alessando Paluzzi also confirming this in a tweet displaying his profile page. The screenshot shows a microphone icon in the Twitter app’s bottom navigation bar, which appears to link to a page labeled “Podcasts,”.
Looking at Wong’s photo, there’s no hint to how podcasts would be used on Twitter or whether Spaces, the platform’s audio-only chat rooms, will be integrated in any way. As of this writing, Spaces are loaded up at the top of the feeds, and it would be helpful if Twitter provides a dedicated tab for the feature.
It, therefore, makes sense to say that Twitter’s acquisition of Revue in 2021, was what started this move. It appears as though the company will likely include the ability for podcasters to directly link to their podcasts within the app.
Talking of podcasts, the company also bought podcast listening app, Breaker early into 2021 with the aim of expanding its audio services. As so, it was thought Breaker would boost the discovery of Spaces.
It makes sense to say that Twitter has greater vision for Breaker’s podcast listening capability, which might be tied into Spaces, with recorded Spaces added as podcasts to listen to under the new tab. This is good!
For now, Spaces can be recorded and saved (lasting 30 days), which looks like having podcasts on the app. In theory, if a podcast function on Twitter is anything like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, users will have the option of choosing and listening to podcasts at their own pace, with no need to rush to catch a live Spaces broadcast or listen to recordings before the timer runs out.
Twitter appears to be the newest social media platform to consider introducing podcast support as a way to generate additional revenue. Earlier this year, Facebook introduced a podcast capability for a small group of content creators, while Reddit only allowed users to record Talks for their audio-only channel.
