Clubhouse rivalry: Facebook, Reddit working on live audio feature

Facebook is going to introduce an Audio Creator Fund for select creators

Clubhouse's growing popularity has set off an attack of the clones with every major social media platform working on a version of their own. We can now add Reddit and Facebook to that list. Reddit is working on something called Reddit Talk, a feature that lets moderators (for now) host live audio conversations in communities. The initial preview is limited and requires people to opt-in to the service via a mailing list.

The preview allows Reddit moderators to hold live audio streams where people can chat with others in their community. Redditors can join in on the conversation and react with emojis. They can also 'raise their hand' for a chance to let them speak.

Moderators have the ability to invite, mute and remove people from the talk. They can also ban people and prevent them from joining the conversation again.

Reddit hopes that the new feature will catch on as a means for Q&A's, AMAs, lectures, community feedback sessions, radio-style talk shows or to just simply hang out and talk within a community.

Facebook wants in on the action too, as reported on by The Verge, Facebook is working on something it calls Live Audio Rooms which will roll-out on the platform this summer to limited groups and public figures as a test.

Besides holding audio chats, people will also be able to record conversations and share them. Creators can, in the future, also charge for these rooms either as a one-time fee or through a subscription.

To generate interest, Facebook is going to introduce an Audio Creator Fund for select creators. These conversations can also be turned into 'Soundbites', which allows people to share audio clips in a dedicated feed on Facebook.

“The high-level picture here is that we think that audio is, of course, also going to be a first-class medium," said Mark Zuckerberg while speaking with The Verge, "and that there are all these different products to build across this whole spectrum,” he added.