Yes, Facebook’s Clubhouse clone is coming, and it could be here very soon, according to a new discovery in the back-end code of the app. As you would expect, with the sudden rise of audio social, Facebook has also been working on its own live audio meeting rooms feature, which would enable Facebook users to create audio broadcasts that users can tune into, and participate in, within the app. This is actually not a major stretch for Facebook to create, as it already has its video Rooms feature that it added last year which enables users to create private video chats that others can drop into. Building a public, audio-only version of the same is technically something of a step back, reducing the data load by shutting off video, while also making them open to all users. Which, according to this screenshot, is apparently where Facebook is heading: Will Clubhouse feel the pressure? That could turn up the heat once again on Clubhouse, which is still in invite-only mode. Earlier this month, Twitter flagged its intention to open up spaces to all users by April , which would enable broadcasters to reach much wider audiences in the app, while Twitter’s also working on various discovery tools and options to enhance the Spaces experience. If those efforts work out, you can expect Facebook to also accelerate its plans for the same, and if Facebook can provide its own public Rooms discovery process, while enabling people and Pages to reach their followers and friends by highlighting in-progress audio Rooms at the top of the app, its audio Rooms could also become a big lure for creators looking to maximize their reach and community-building efforts. Why use live audio? Audio meet-ups like this reduce some of the performance pressure of video, which can make them feel more casual, and that could make them a significant addition to already engaged, niche-focused Facebook groups. Twitter also has the same advantage with Spaces, which is built on the existing Periscope architecture, which means that many more people can join Twitter Spaces, and it’s able to support many more streams. Clubhouse, which is growing its server capacity in line with demand, is somewhat on the back foot in this respect.
