By Adedapo Adesanya
Twitter is officially delving into the world of podcasts as it announced the onboarding of the feature into its platform as part of its newly designed Spaces tab.
Announced in a blog post on Thursday, the social media app is testing a redesigned Spaces tab that groups audio content together by subject, as well as includes podcasts feature for the first time.
The social networking platform explained that, “We know that some discussions need more than 280 characters, and bringing people closer to the ideas, content, and creators they know and love is core to Twitter no matter where the conversations take place.”
It said that integration is another way it is investing in audio creators.
“To do this in a simple and intuitive way that allows listeners to simply hit play and go, we started with a redesigned audio experience in the Spaces Tab.”
This redesign introduces personalized hubs called Stations that group audio content together by specific themes like News, Music, Sports, and more. Now Twitter listeners will be able to easily access a more personalized selection of live and recorded Spaces discussing the topics that are most relevant to them.
Like Twitter’s For You feed, these Stations will be tailored to individual users according to the content and accounts they interact with on Twitter.
Significantly, Stations won’t only include the live and pre-recorded Spaces that Twitter currently hosts, but also suggest pre-recorded podcasts. Users will also be able to help customise the algorithm by giving suggested podcasts a thumbs up or down to indicate their level of interest.
The new Twitter Spaces tab is currently being tested on a select group of English-language accounts.
The revamped Spaces tab and the addition of podcasts are now visible to a group of global English-speaking audiences on iOS and Android.
Twitter says its internal research indicates that 45 per cent of people who use Twitter in the United States also listen to podcasts monthly, so now the company will automatically suggest podcasts to help users discover content based on the topics they’re interested in.
Modupe Gbadeyanka