The Perfect Guide to Using Twitter Spaces!

In December 2020, Twitter announced it would soon begin testing a new social experience involving audio-only chat rooms which it named as Twitter spaces. In March 2021, Twitter users woke up to this new audio live chat rooms. The feature allows users to join virtual spaces where they can engage in real-time audio conversations with others. The company hopes that this new feature will play a key role in its ambitious goal to grow its daily active user base to 315 million by the end of 2023.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey addresses students during a town hall at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, November 12, 2018.

Twitter’s Head of Research, Nikkia Reveillac, Has Said that there are about conversation and communication. Voice, she said, is a natural extension of that conversation. “The idea is to bridge the gap between what is text-based and something more human, to bring nuance and empathy’ into the conversation”, Nikkia concluded

Twitter began testing Spaces in November 2020 with a limited number of users. Still, on March 1, it began rolling the feature globally to iOS and Android Twitter users who have 600 or more followers. During this time, the product will be limited to select individuals, mainly from underrepresented backgrounds, Twitter says.

As the company had explained in November, it would be critical to get safety right for people to feel comfortable in these spaces. That’s a difficult challenge to overcome — particularly for a company like Twitter. Some had argued overly favoured free speech to limit cries of censorship, even when such an address made some afraid to speak up on the platform’s potential for abuse, bullying and cancel culture. Though audio-based social networking is still a relatively new concept, in its current iteration of private mobile-social “spaces,” it’s already been proven difficult to moderate.

Where can you find Twitter Spaces?

Spaces are found where Fleets appear, just above the Home timeline.

On Twitter for iOS and Android, when someone you follow starts or speaks in a Space, it’ll appear at the top of your timeline as a purple bubble for as long as it’s live. When you join a Space as a listener, you can react to what you hear with emojis, tweet or DM the Space, or request to speak.

Understanding How Twitter Spaces works

Twitter users will see purple bubbles appear at the top of their timelines when live conversations are happening. Users will be able to tap on those purple bubbles to join a Space. Once inside, users can tweet or direct message the Space hosts or request to speak.

As a host of Twitter Space, users will have the ability to moderate their rooms by inviting others, choosing who can speak and removing any troublemakers.

As a Listener, choose whether or not you want to see captions (if Hosts/Speakers have turned them on) by tapping the View Captions toggle to on or off in your Spaces settings. When you create a space, you’re in control of who’s speaking, the topics, everything. 

How to Create a Twitter Space?

You can start a Space two ways:

• Long press on compose and then tap the new Spaces icon on the left.
  Or, tap on your profile image in Fleets, scroll to the right, and tap Spaces.
• You can invite people to speak, share thoughts, send emojis, and more.
• Make sure to select who can join with speaking privileges.
• Your mic will be off to start. When ready, tap Start your Space.
• Allow mic access by toggling Allow mic access to on.
• Choose whether or not you want to Share transcriptions by toggling the button on or off.
• Now you can start recording in your Space.

Note: Only the person who created the Space can end it.

Can you control who speaks?

Yes. When creating a Space, you can select who can join with speaking privileges by choosing from:

• Everyone
• People you follow
• Only people you invite to speak can (lets you send DM invites).

Note: You can change privileges at any time while the Space is open.

Can you control who listens?

For now, Spaces are public, and anyone can join as a listener. If you create a Space, your followers will see it in their Fleets. There is no limit on the number of listeners.

Note: As the person who has opened a Space, you can also remove, report, and block users in a Space at any time.

How to Join a Space?

It’s easy! Find the Space in your Fleets section, select it, and then tap the Join this Space button that pops up. Your mic will be off to start.

If you’re joining a Space as a speaker, in addition to talking, you can pin tweets to the Space, turn on captions so everyone can follow along with what you’re saying, and tweet the Space so your followers can join.

The Paid Space

On the day of the launch, Twitter also announced that it is working on an upcoming feature called “Ticket Spaces.” This feature will allow users to create Spaces that require others to purchase a ticket to join. The paid spaces enable users to monetize Spaces and incentivize them to host more live audio conversations on Twitter.

Hosts will earn the most revenue from ticket sales while Twitter will keep a small amount, the company said. Ticket Spaces will begin to roll out to a limited set of users in the coming months.

Who can use Twitter Spaces?

At the moment, anyone using Twitter’s iOS app or Android app can join a Space, but only select individuals with more than 600 followers can host Spaces.

Note: Accounts with protected tweets cannot create Spaces, but they can join and speak in other people’s spaces.

Have you tried using the spaces? Care to share your experience or FAQs with us!

Sources:

Rodriguez, S (2021, May 3) Twitter launches Spaces live-audio rooms to all users with more than 600 followers https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/twitter-launches-spaces-live-audio-rooms-to-all-users.html

Tillman, M (2021, May 3) What are Twitter Spaces and how do they work? https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/twitter/155901-what-are-twitter-spaces-and-how-do-they-work

Perez, S (2020, December 17) Twitter launches its voice-based ‘Spaces’ social networking feature into beta testing https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/17/twitter-launches-its-voice-based-spaces-social-networking-feature-into-beta-testing/

Image Credits:

(2018, November 12 ) Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters

(2020, December 17)TechCrunch