Facebook is now soon coming up with its new feature that will allow the podcasters on the platform to distribute and amplify their podcast shows through their Facebook page. Yes! Facebook is building its own in-app podcast player and this is going to be a completely separate feature from its new in-app Spotify player. This new feature can be operated by the users by the means of RSS or by using a backend way to upload their content on the platform.
Despite introducing its new miniplayer that will allow Facebook users to stream Spotify through the Facebook app, the company is announcing a separate in-app podcast player. This clearly indicates the company’s plan to ingrain itself into the podcast ecosystem. According to Facebook, more than 170 million people connect to podcast pages, and more than 35 million people are members of groups around different shows. In addition to this, podcasts are primarily an ad-based product, which later will help Facebook gather data about the shows and the listeners and can accordingly target its own advertisements against them, possibly giving creators a cut.
The entry of Facebook into the podcast player space simply means that nearly all the tech giants are now turning their way towards their own podcast products. In fact, giants like Google, Apple and Amazon are all dipping their toes in the podcast originals.
Spotify’s miniplayer for Facebook:
Facebook is very possessive about its users and never really wants them to move out, especially to function any other app. In order for the user to listen to the enjoy while chatting on Facebook, the company has expanded its partnership with Spotify to create a mechanism for listening to full songs within the social network.
Facebook has now entered into a partnership with Spotify in the form of a miniplayer for the News Feed that’ll allow its users to play music and podcasts within the Facebook app. With the help of the miniplayer, audio content can be shared directly from Spotify to Facebook and once the play button is clicked, the miniplayer will allow listeners to listen to music and podcasts even if they continue to scroll. The Facebook-Spotify partnership will allow users to share episodes and listen to them from within the Facebook app without actually navigating to Spotify.
Why Facebook is pushing itself towards audio features?
Facebook is moving aggressively towards audio products, trying to compete with its rivals such as Twitter and Clubhouse. The company is working towards building a series of new audio-focused products. Recently, Facebook in competition to Clubhouse announced a new feature called “Soundbites” which will offer users to share and post short audio snippets to their feed, just like the way they share a photo or a video.
Apart from this, the launch of miniplayer for Facebook and now an in-app podcast player is clearly indicating Facebook’s plan to dive into the audio space. Facebook’s interest in the audio feature might be because of the massive rise of audio shows and apps during the pandemic.
After closely observing the massive growth of Clubhouse in just a few months, not only Facebook but Twitter is also trying to build its space into the audio world. Twitter with its “Twitter Spaces” and “voice tweets” is trying to give major competition to Facebook and is emphasising its interest in the audio space.