Facebook officially launched Live Audio Rooms and Podcasts in the US

Facebook introduces Live Audio Rooms

In April, Facebook announced a series of plans to invest in new audio products to compete with rival Clubhouse Live Audio, as well as support new features for podcasts.

Like Clubhouse or similar apps, Facebook's Live Audio offers a standard set of features.

Highlights compared to competitors

Presenters appear in circular icons at the top of the screen, while listeners appear in the bottom half of the screen, as smaller icons.

This feature on Facebook has more outstanding features than other competitors.

During the session, users will be notified when friends or followers also join the chat.

Fundraising opportunities for non-profit organizations

Users can reward speakers through “Stars” that can be purchased in packages.

Therefore, some non-profit or fundraising organizations may use it as a solicitation for donations.

On groups, administrators can also customize permissions to create Live Audio Rooms for members or other moderators.

Among the first to adopt the Facebook Live Audio Rooms test are Grammy-nominated electronic music artist TOKiMONSTA;

Along with the launch of Live Audio Rooms, Facebook is also starting to roll out its planned podcast support with select celebrities.

To be clear, this new podcast service is different from podcasts on Spotify, allowing users to share content from Spotify to social networks.

The new podcast listening experience allows users to listen to podcasts while they're on Facebook, in the mini player or full-screen player with playback options, and even when the phone's screen is turned off.

Facebook said later this summer it will add the ability to create and share short clips from podcasts, along with other features, like captions.

Zuckerberg was very optimistic about the potential of audio on social networking platforms.

“I think the areas that I'm most excited about on Facebook are basically the large number of communities and groups that exist,” Zuckerberg told Platformer at the time of the initial announcement.

Facebook plans to expand its audio  products globally in the coming months

Source: Sarah Perez.