Facebook is reportedly working on a copycat version of Clubhouse, an invite-only audio app that has captured everyone’s interest on social media. According to the Verge, the copycat product from Facebook is still in its ‘early stages of development’. This news comes just days after Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared on the Clubhouse app – where he hosted a discussion on virtual and augmented reality.
Facebook’s launch of a Clubhouse alternative is not surprising: ripping off ideas is an extremely common occurrence amongst social media competitors. For example, Snapchat stories – a main feature of the photo-sharing app – inspired both Facebook and Instagram to release a ‘stories’ feature on their respective platforms. Instagram ‘Reels’ feature was also a direct response to the rise in popularity of short-form video sharing platform – TikTok.
It’s not just Facebook – however – that is hopping onto the Clubhouse trend. Twitter is also reportedly working on an audio experience called ‘Spaces’ – which is in its beta testing phase. TechCrunch reported that during its beta launch, Spaces will offer users the opportunity to “participate in host-moderated audio conversations between two or more people”. Features such as ‘new reaction emojis’ and ‘reporting and blocking tools’ are also being tested.
today we’ve opened up to another small group of folks to try out Spaces & we’re excited to hear their feedback (literally!)
if you don’t have the feature yet, don’t worry! we’re still learning and will continue to add more of you over time
— Spaces (@TwitterSpaces) January 13, 2021
All three platforms are still in their early stages of development – so it is hard to decipher who will come out on top as the leading audio app.