Twitter "Spaces" Trades Tweeting for Talking

Spaces will let you join a live voice chat with your friends on Twitter.

Twitter is testing out a new feature it calls Spaces. Spaces is an audio-only chatroom, letting users step away from Tweeting, and instead enter a space for live voice chats.

Twitter Introduces a New Type of Conversation

Spaces is a place for users to have real-time conversations using audio. The feature is currently in beta right now, and is only available to a small group of people.

Whenever it gets released to the public, it will enable you to create a Space for you and your followers (or anyone else on Twitter), and then engage in a live voice chat with anyone who joins. You'll also get control over who can or can't talk in your Space.

Twitter sent out a series of Tweets introducing Spaces, labeling the feature as "a small experiment focused on the intimacy of the human voice." And because a 280 character limit for Tweets might not always be enough, Spaces "gives people another way to join the conversation."

You'll be able to easily create a Space by long pressing on the Compose button on the Twitter app, or by accessing the Fleets creation screen. Once you create your Space, you can invite users by sharing a link or sending them a direct message.

Danny Singh, a research and strategy manager at Twitter, Tweeted out a preview of what Spaces might look like.

Each users' profile picture and name appear inside the Space, allowing you to see who's there. The host of the Space is also clearly labeled, and anyone currently speaking will have a blue audio wave next to their name.

Additionally, Spaces is testing out a slew of other features that may make Spaces more than just an audio chatroom. This includes live transcriptions, reporting and blocking with Spaces, sharing Tweets in Spaces, as well as reactions that are similar to hand gestures.

Spaces seems to be an expansion of Twitter's existing experimentation with audio. The platform has already rolled out voice Tweets, a form of Tweeting that lets you record an audio clip.

However, Twitter faced criticism for not including live transcription with voice Tweets. But with Twitter working on a form of live transcription in Spaces, it will hopefully make the platform more accessible.

When Will Spaces Reach the Public?

Unfortunately, there's no word on when Spaces will officially become a part of the Twitter app. And since it's just in testing, Spaces isn't totally guaranteed to even get released.

If it does ever get out of beta testing, we can only hope that its launch isn't received as poorly as the launch of Fleets.

About The Author