It's been less than a week since Mark Zuckerberg appeared on the Clubhouse audio chat app and now, according to a New York Times report, Facebook is building its own version.
Two sources "knowing the subject" affirm that the new product of the social network "intends to evolve towards new forms of communication", which is just another way of saying "audio". This format, on which Clubhouse is based, is something Facebook has yet to exploit with its suite of products.
Mark Zuckerberg on @joinClubhouse now 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/HhDErqrxpm
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) February 5, 2021
If you're unfamiliar with Clubhouse, there are a few things you really need to know - it's a social media app that was released last year. It is by invitation only. And it generates a lot of controversy due to its lack of content moderation.
In recent months, it has managed to quickly gain popularity and even attract appearances from celebrities like Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, Drake, and Elon Musk, to name a few. So it makes sense that a tech giant like Facebook wants to create its own version.
The same two sources told the NYT that Facebook executives had "directed employees to create a similar product." However, it is currently in the early stages of development, so it is unlikely that we will see it anytime soon. The report also does not mention any details about the features.
Literally took six days pic.twitter.com/PupUNm0zOL
— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) February 10, 2021
It's no secret that Facebook has always been a copier when it comes to social media startups. Every time a new feature or app starts to gain traction (and invade Facebook's dominance), Zuck and co. I've often found a way to quickly create a proprietary version of Facebook. We saw it with the Instagram “Stories”, a format that started with Snapchat, and the short video “Reels,” a phenomenon that started with TikTok. So it's safe to say that whatever Facebook is doing will likely be almost identical to the Clubhouse format.
Whether it will be as exclusive and controversial remains to be seen. Judging from Facebook's infamous experiment of moderating content and spreading misinformation, you'd think the company had better ignore this one.
But I guess Zuck thinks otherwise.
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