{"id":393851,"date":"2021-04-19T07:14:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T05:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=393851"},"modified":"2021-04-19T07:16:08","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T05:16:08","slug":"facebook-to-launch-new-audio-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/software\/393851-facebook-to-launch-new-audio-apps.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook to launch new audio apps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook Inc. will announce on Monday a suite of new audio products, including its own take on Clubhouse, as well as a push into podcasts aided by Spotify Technology\u00a0<span id=\"3e0729a4-a096-11eb-85d3-fa163e8986b3\">S.A.<\/span>, Recode\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/recode\/2021\/4\/18\/22390742\/facebook-podcasts-clubhouse-audio-launch-spotify-zuckerberg-apple\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a><\/strong>, citing sources it didn\u2019t identify.<\/p>\n<p>Some products won\u2019t be available until later this spring, Recode said. The plan includes an audio-only version of Messenger Rooms, the video chat feature Facebook introduced last year to compete with Zoom Video Communications Inc.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook will also add a Clubhouse-like product that allows users to talk on a virtual stage, and a feature that lets users post voice messages on their newsfeeds. Furthermore, it will launch a podcast discovery product in connection with Spotify, Recode said.<\/p>\n<p>The plans come just as Clubhouse closed a\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-04-17\/andreessen-horowitz-takes-part-in-clubhouse-funding-informatio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Series C funding round<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0led by Andreessen Horowitz. Bloomberg News reported earlier that the round would value the one-year-old startup at about $4 billion, quadruple the estimate from January.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple social media giants are working to create their own versions of the popular Clubhouse product. Twitter Inc. introduced one called Spaces. Microsoft Corp.\u2019s LinkedIn and Slack Technologies Inc. have also said they\u2019re working on similar features for their networks.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook\u2019s chief executive officer, appeared live during a Clubhouse discussion this year, and the company ordered multiple teams to research audio-related chat products that could rival Clubhouse, people familiar with the efforts\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-02-11\/facebook-exploring-audio-chat-products-to-rival-clubhouse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>have said<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been connecting people through audio and video technologies for many years, and are always exploring new ways to improve that experience for people,\u201d Facebook told Recode.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, Apple Inc. is preparing a subscription podcast service it may announce as early as Tuesday, Recode reported, without specifying how it obtained the information. Apple declined to comment to Recode.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read: <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/393483-how-fraudsters-use-facebook-and-whatsapp-to-steal-money-from-south-african-mobile-customers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How fraudsters use Facebook and WhatsApp to steal money from South African mobile customers<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook Inc. will announce on Monday a suite of new audio products, including its own take on Clubhouse, as well as a push into podcasts aided by Spotify Technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":393853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[69437,161,7927],"class_list":["post-393851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software","tag-clubhouse","tag-facebook","tag-spotify"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}