Listen Up! Twitter Doubles Down on Audio Content

Did you know that Twitter originally started as an audio-only streaming service?

In the days before 140 characters, and even before @Jack arrived on the scene, the company was called Odeo and it had set out to create a service where anyone could transmit recordings to anyone else in realtime.

Odeo failed before it ever really got started, largely because it was ahead of its time — it was a lot to ask of our Internet connections back then — but the team was able to pivot to a format that was batter suited to the technology of the day. It's not often that we get a second crack at a great idea, but it seems that the time may be right for Twitter to become the audio platform that its founders had always wanted it to be.

In late 2020, Twitter Spaces launched as a competitor to the then-popular app, Clubhouse. Spaces allow any Twitter user to launch a live group conversation complete with hosts, reaction-emojis, and recordings that can be shared after the event. Spaces has since won the face-off against Clubhouse in pretty decisive fashion. Not only is there a constant flow of conversations that cover topics like sports, politics, business, and crypto, even the traditional media world has started to embrace the world of Spaces.

During the initial invasion of Ukraine, over 50,000 people joined a Space where news outlets, reporters on the ground, and even Ukrainian citizens gave live updates. Accounts spotted in the crowd included the NYTimes, Washington Post, and NPR. Spaces are also regularly being set up and hosted by organizations like the Financial Times, the NBA, and Salesforce.

But Spaces isn't Twitter's only foray back into audio content. Clever Internet users have noticed within the latest version of the Twitter mobile app a dedicated space on the menu titled "Podcasts." (Source: @alex193a)

So far, Twitter has declined to comment, except to say “We’re always exploring new ways to help people engage in the conversation on Twitter, but have no further details to share at this time.”

Whether intentional or not, the spirit of Odeo lives on at Twitter, which means we should expect to see lots more audio-first content from them in the future.

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting