Twitter is rolling out its voice-based chat rooms called Spaces. The feature, which was announced last month, will be accessible to only a limited number of users. Though, only a limited number of people would be allowed to create Spaces, the company in a thread said anyone could join.
Creators on Spaces can control who can or cannot speak while using the feature. What that means is that the company is paying a big emphasis on moderation. Per The Verge, features such as reporting and blocking have been included in the first version.
Also added in this first version include the ability to share tweets, and live voice transcription. These features are still being tested and may or may not be a part of the official wider roll out.
To join Spaces, you will need to go through the Twitter mobile app. It does not look like you will be able to do that via the web; but we will just wait and see what happens.
In other Twitter news, the social media giant has become the new owner of a startup that lets you hang out with your friends via video. Twitter announced that it has purchased Squad—an app that allows you to hand out with your friends via video chat and screen-sharing.
Squad, according to Twitter’s VP of product Ilya Brown, will “bring new ways for people to interact, express themselves, and join in the public conversation.” In his follow up tweet, Brown announced that the app will “accelerate our work to bring people new and creative tools to start and join conversations on the service.”
Twitter’s announcement came after reliable reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong had tweeted that “Twitter might shut down Periscope.” The Squad app meanwhile, was officially shut down on Saturday December 12, 2020.
A message on the Squad website reads: “We are excited to share that Squad has been acquired by Twitter! We are so grateful for all our customers around the world and are excited to build the future on Twitter.”
Meanwhile, users of Twitter and Snapchat can share tweets visually in Snaps and Stories, while still accessing the Camera and the creative tools available on Snapchat. You can tap the attachment if you are viewing from Snapchat in order to view tweets and replies directly on Twitter.
Similar update and functionality is also coming to Instagram, Twitter has announced. The microblogging company said it is currently testing a feature that will allow Twitter users to share their tweets to Instagram Stories.
