Source: Facebook
What you need to know
- Facebook is testing a new web app called Hotline that is very similar to the popular Clubhouse app.
- Hotline allows the host to live stream instead of being audio-only. Sessions are recorded and saved afterward.
- Anyone can sign up on the waiting list using their Twitter account.
Facebook has been developing its competitor to the popular Clubhouse app that's sweeping the iPhone community. Today's public test "launch" of Hotline is a little something like that, Facebook's experimental NPE division. The web app has many of the fixings of a Clubhouse competitor, but with a little extra flare - or fire - thrown in.
Hotline is a web application that lets users host Q&A sessions with an audience. Similar to how you use Twitter Spaces or Clubhouse, it can be an audio-only session, and unlike those platforms, the host can also choose to live stream the session with video. Another way it differs is that the audience is divided into two sections; those just listening and those asking questions. Questions are typed in for the host to sift through and answer, and questions can be upvoted or downvoted by other audience members. Once a question is chosen, the person asking is put "on stage" and can orally present their question while others can react.
Source: Facebook
According to a Facebook spokesperson (via TechCrunch), the experience is targeting a more professional environment compared to the casual nature of other platforms like Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces:
With Hotline, we're hoping to understand how interactive, live multimedia Q&As can help people learn from experts in areas like professional skills, just as it helps those experts build their businesses. New Product Experimentation has been testing multimedia products like CatchUp, Venue, Collab, and BARS, and we're encouraged to see the formats continue to help people connect and build community.
Users can sign up using their Twitter accounts, although, at the moment, the site has only a waitlist to join and a link to host your own session. Sessions are also saved, and the host will have access to video or audio versions after a session has ended.
Apparently, this is just one of the Clubhouse competitors that Facebook is working on, and the one that the company has been talking up is still in development for Messenger Rooms. Still, it's nice that more platforms are jumping on the bandwagon since the iOS-only Clubhouse still hasn't released an app experience for the best Android phones.
Review: Outriders on PS5 is a fun game saddled with a forgettable story
Outriders' gameplay is enjoyable and fast-paced, but it insists on tacking on a boring story, dull voice-acting, and a number of design flaws. It's a good looter shooter, but maybe not a great game in general.
Facebook bringing audio chats and podcasts to Android this summer
Facebook has announced a suite of new audio features that it's bringing to the platform this summer, including its Clubhouse-like Live Audio Rooms.
HTC EVO 3D: Revisiting a decade-old technological dead-end
Right as HTC was peaking in popularity, so was one of the oddities of 2011 tech: 3D. I picked up the phone that combined the two to see why it ultimately failed.
Protect your Galaxy A51 in glitter and glam with the best cases
It's tough when you end up scratching or dropping your new phone, especially when you have a phone as great as the Galaxy A51. These are the best cases that you can get to help assist against any potential damage.