Twitter has recently innovated by borrowing features from its competition. At first it was “Fleets,“Its own version of Snapchat stories, and now Twitter is taking over the burgeoning social media app Clubhouse with its new” Spaces “feature.
Twitter Spaces are public chat rooms that anyone can create and join. The hosts control who has voice rights – currently up to ten speakers can join the conversation – but anyone can join in and there is no limit to the number of listeners. The conversations are automatically transcribed by Twitter and you can download the transcript up to 30 days later.
Yes, Twitter’s Spaces are almost identical in function to Clubhouse’s chat rooms – but, you know, via Twitter instead. The clubhouse is gaining momentumSo it makes sense that Twitter would like to jump into the new format. I’m not sure if Twitter is where I want to have a public conversation, but Spaces is still in beta and could see a lot of revisions by the time it rolls out publicly.
The Twitter Spaces beta is available for iOS and Android. You will receive a notification to try the beta if you are selected. The function is also slightly different on both platforms. All iOS users can tune into Spaces, but only iOS users in beta can host them. The Android beta is more limited. Currently, those in beta can only listen and not host their own Spaces, and Android users who are not in beta cannot participate at all. When the feature is fully implemented, all users can host and join Spaces. (One fold: Protected accounts can only connect spaces, they cannot host their own.)
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How to start your own Twitter Space (currently iOS only)
- Long press “Compose” Then tap the space icon.
- Alternatively, you can go to your Twitter profile, tap Fleets, then scroll down and select spaces.
- Choose who gets voice rights. The options are: “Everyone”, “People You Follow” or “Only people you invite to speak.”
- If you choose “Only people you invite to speak” Tap the people you want to invite. You will receive the invitation link as a Twitter DM.
- Tap “Start your room” Then, to begin, allow access to the Twitter microphone.
While the call is active, hosts can choose to allow access to the Space’s transcript, and block, remove, and report other participants.
To join someone else’s Twitter Space (iOS and Android Beta members)
- Open someone’s Twitter profile.
- In the Fleets section, scroll up until you see the Live section. Tap to sign in.
- You can share links to Spaces while they are active and download transcripts for up to 30 days after the meeting ends.
