Facebook (FB) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Class A Report frequently follows the wind in technology.
When one of its competitors introduces a useful feature, the social media behemoth rushes to develop an in-house version to prevent users and advertisers from going to competitors. We witnessed that not long ago with Instagram Reels, which the company launched in August 2020 as a “new way to create and discover short, amusing films on Instagram.”
Instagram Reels is a built-in tool that allows you to edit and share short music videos. The premise is practically a carbon replica of TikTok, the popular software owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The likeness is noticeable when used. On the user’s profile, the vertical scrolling, looping playback, and video mosaic are all the same. Instagram has also adopted the algorithmic suggestions premise from its competitor, which provides relevant content to users based on their anticipated tastes.
With this in mind, it’s no surprise that Facebook hopped on the podcast and audio bandwagon last year, following the success of the Clubhouse audio app, one of the great winners in Covid-19’s pandemic economy.
Podcasts, an Opportunity That Quickly Died Out
The clubhouse is a social networking application developed by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth that will be launched in April 2020 in San Francisco. It’s an audio social network that allows users to talk in secret rooms by invitation only. When Clubhouse users join the club, they have access to rooms filled with different people chatting about different themes based on audio and voice strength.
As a result, Clubhouse was an instant success. The platform capitalized on the popularity of podcasts, applications, and messaging systems in which users communicate exclusively by voice and sound communications. The underlying premise is that the voice is a vehicle for emotions, complexity, humanity, and empathy. It is a positive energy channel.
As a result, Clubhouse’s price skyrocketed, surpassing $4 billion. Faced with Clubhouse’s rapid growth, most tech bands began to imitate them. SPOT (SPOT.IT) – Spotify (SPOT.IT) – Get Spotify Technology SA Report has made a significant commitment to audio, announcing major collaborations with stars as Joe Rogan centered on his podcast.
Facebook was no different. Mark Zuckerberg’s group, formed and directed by him, released Live Audio Rooms, short stories dubbed Soundbites, and podcasts in June.
“Live Audio Rooms on Facebook allow you to explore, listen in on, and join live conversations with public figures, professionals, and others about topics of interest,” stated Fidji Simo, head of Facebook App, in a blog post. “Public personalities can invite their friends, following, verified public figures, or any listeners in the room to talk.”
However, less than a year later, Facebook is exiting the audio business. According to Bloomberg, Meta is no longer investing in podcasts. A spokeswoman for Meta confirmed to TheStreet that the company had nothing to share on audio today.
Facebook is currently focusing on gathering input from creators and the podcast community to see what is working well and where we can improve. The company also emphasizes that it considers audio to be an important medium of expression.
According to the spokesman, “Facebook is experiencing high interaction with our audio features,” but no other details were provided.
Metaverse Is The Number One Priority
The firm’s audio goals have primarily suffered as a result of the company’s new emphasis, the metaverse. At the end of October, Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms. This transformation is more than just cosmetic, as the corporation now wants to focus on making the virtual world, in which we will interact via avatars, into business potential.
Mark Zuckerberg’s team is now working on virtual reality headgear as well as other tech tools and devices based on augmented reality and artificial intelligence that will be used in this metaverse.
As TheStreet’s Rob Lenihan reported last week, Facebook intends to charge royalties on sales made by its metaverse producers. Horizon Worlds, the company’s social metaverse platform for Quest VR headsets, will allow creators to monetize their work.
The social media giant is doing a test with a small group of producers in which they will be able to sell virtual products and effects within their worlds.
Meta intends to take a 47.5 percent commission from the sale of digital assets on Horizon Worlds. The whole price consists of a 30% hardware platform fee for sales made through the Meta Quest Store, where it offers apps and games for its virtual reality headsets, and a further 17.5% cut as Horizon platform fees.
This is more than the 30% fee charged by Apple to software creators.
It should be noted that Facebook has frequently chastised its Silicon Valley neighbor for this behavior.