Instagram has now added the ability for Live users to mute their audio and even turn off their video when broadcasting. This appears to be the latest in a number of moves made by Facebook and its respective services to further embed their presence within the growing audio features space. In other words, another attempt to directly capitalize on the recent success of Clubhouse.
Since the arrival of Clubhouse, many services have suddenly seen the value in focusing on audio-first services and features. Almost as suddenly, this has led to many of the major names in social media developing and releasing their own cloned versions of Clubhouse features. Just recently, Facebook announced a number of new audio-based features, including more seamless access to podcasts, while Instagram launched Live Rooms in March, a feature that allows up to four users to broadcast live together.
Following on from the launch of Live Rooms, Instagram is now further looking to add more control to the ‘going live’ experience by offering users the option to mute their audio or disable their video completely during a live broadcast, as confirmed by Facebook’s Alexandru Voica on Twitter. According to TechCrunch, the new features are already in the process of rolling out on both Android and iOS platforms. Also according to TechCrunch, while hosts are unable to turn off audio or video for others taking part in a livestream, the option to do so, along with similar advanced controls, may become available in the near future.
The new feature tweaks appear to be simple enough to use. Those live on Instagram can quickly tap on the mic or video button at the bottom of the screen to disable either or even both at the same time. Although not uncommon for a service where people engage with each other over video, it is hard to differentiate the new features from Facebook’s wider attempts to integrate Clubhouse-like experiences. After all, in spite of Instagram being a service that’s heavily focused on visuals, it now offers a way for users to chat and engage within an audio-only setting.
With so many services trying to capitalize and replicate the success of Clubhouse, the original service is starting to feel the increased pressure. Besides the attempts of Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, Discord, and even Reddit are in the process of introducing audio-first and audio-only features. In some cases, many of these services are rolling out features many want to see on Clubhouse quicker than Clubhouse can. Of course, these are already established players within the space and that does make it easier and quicker for them to develop, test, and deploy new features. Not to mention, with services like Instagram already available on both Android and iOS, unlike Clubhouse, the faster they can release these new features, the more chance they have of establishing themselves as audio networking players.
Source: Alexandru Voica/Twitter, TechCrunch
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