Expect Twitter Spaces in April 2021, with Exclusive Content

Clubhouse has made voice chats great like never before; Twitter is taking on the idea, preparing its own voice chat service named Twitter Spaces. The interface of it is similar both to Clubhouse (round user pics with statuses indicating who is the host, the speaker, and the guests) and to Twitter (because the rest is as Twitterish as can be).

The beta shown to users demonstrates the abilities of the service; well, it’s really very similar to the rival, in terms of user experience, room control, and so on. The host can start a Space (yes, that’s the name, though it’s rather an event in time), send invitations and reminders, moderate guest lists, summon moderators for the talk. In the next update, there will be Spaces co-hosted by several persons, scheduling options, and maybe even tweets integration. To avoid confusion, the tweets embedded into the Space can remain hidden from other users.

So far, Spaces feature is available in preview mode: you can join Spaces on your iOS and Android, but only those launched by Twitter, and only while they last. In April, though, as Alex aka @akkhosh stated in a tweet, the service intends to make Spaces fully available on both Android and iOS. This means that any user will be able to start their own Space, invite speakers and guests, or publish the link for anyone to join and listen.

Though Instagram prepares the same feature simultaneously, Twitter seems to have better chances in the perspective. It has established itself as a breaking news platform, used by officials, while Instagram, not stranger to news content, is rather lifestyle-centered. It’s harder to show off your new dress, car, or smartphone without pics and videos. On the other hand, talking on serious issues in real time is just what we expect from politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, and other opinion makers.