Hotline: new Facebook app mixes Clubhouse with Instagram Live (Hotline / Playback)
Mark Zuckerberg does not intend to leave the Clubhouse compete alone. O Facebook is testing the Hotline, a new application similar to the audio platform that boomed in early 2021.
While the Clubhouse is restricted to audio, Zuckerberg’s novelty allows people to use audio and video to chat with the audience when creating chat rooms, as in Instagram Live. Conversations can be scheduled and all have a feature for questions and answers (Q&A).
It is also possible to record video and audio, another feature that is not in the Clubhouse, which are then available as two files in mp3 and mp4 to be downloaded. For now, there is no limit to the size of the audience in each room.
Still in beta and without a version for mobile devices, the Hotline can be accessed through its website (not yet available in Brazil). To create an account, you need to log in using your Twitter, not Facebook, and leave your name on a waiting list.
The project is being led by Erik Hazzard, who started working for Facebook in 2017 after selling his “tbh” application to the technology giant. The first live broadcast on the Hotline was tested last Wednesday (07) with real estate investor Nick Huber, in a conversation about finance in the real estate sector.
The Clubhouse became the new app of the moment in early 2021. The social network with a focus on voice, available only to iOS and through invitations, it received 13 million installations in February and March, according to data from SensorTower. In it, users enter chat rooms that can hold up to 5,000 people to discuss topics of equal interest.
At the end of 2020, the app was valued at $ 100 million, well before the participation of Elon Musk in a chat to make the app start pumping overnight. Now, the Clubhouse is in talks to raise funds from investors in a round that values the business at about $ 4 billion, according to information from Bloomberg.
In February, Twitter released the Spaces, functionality that allows a group of up to 10 people to come together to discuss a matter in front of an audience. At the time, Instagram announced that its live feature could add up to three other guests. Before, only one more guest had access.
Copies and likenesses of tech giants are a way to stay on top of the app market. “It is a market logic. These platforms are indeed trying to innovate, but they use their power to swallow the innovation of new competitors. Outsiders need to find something very difficult to copy in order to stand out, ”said Victor Barcellos, ITS-Rio Digital Communication specialist in an interview with EXAM. “They have a tendency to monopoly, because they compete for number of users and attention.”
