The Social Audio Decade: What do you need to know?

Voice-enabled tech has boomed over the past year and shows no signs of slowing down. Adoption of voice assistants, voice search, audiobooks, podcasts, voice retail, and banking via a virtual assistant is at an all-time high. We’ve even seen the comeback of the long-maligned phone call. Everywhere I turn, people are talking about the power of talking.

Amidst the voice tech chatter, I find the explosion of interest in social audio networks to be one of the most interesting topics. The Clubhouse app defined the social audio format about a year ago, igniting a flurry of innovation that many say marks the beginning of the social audio decade.

Even casual tech-enthusiasts likely already know the Clubhouse story. This invitation-only, audio social network app launched with a few thousand users in May 2020 and grew to 13 million by April of this year – in the process raising over $100M in venture capital and reaching a $4B valuation. Clubhouse users enter virtual spaces called “clubs” and “rooms” to participate in audio-only discussions that have been described as a mix between an interactive podcast and a cocktail party. The experience is customizable; users can “lean back” and listen or “lean in” to actively participate depending on their preference.

I have personally enjoyed exploring Clubhouse over the past year, hopping into rooms in the evenings to join conversations about everything from Bitcoin and NFTs to the future of food and leaving feeling energized by the lively exchanges.

What’s the future of the voice-powered network?

While exploring Clubhouse, I have been intrigued by the simple idea underpinning this innovation: the shift from passive listening like podcasts to active participation via the power of interacting voices.

Humans are innately social creatures; we are better together. I write and think about this often, but I still sometimes marvel at how much this simple truth underpins tech innovation. The transformative addition of participation gives social audio staying power. Tech gurus like Andrew Chen predict that audio will create the next generation of start-ups in social networking, social content, and publishing and will be embedded into a wide range of products and services.

“The transformative addition of user participation gives social audio staying power.”

Thus, the most interesting thing about Clubhouse may be the burst of innovation it inspired. Currently all of the major players have launched social audio applications or announced plans to do so. This roll call includes: Twitter Spaces; Facebook’s planned trifecta of Soundbites, Podcasts and Live Rooms; Instagram’s audio-only chats; Reddit Talk; LinkedIn’s Audio Rooms; Discord’s expansion beyond gamers; Mark Cuban’s Fireside; and Spotify’s recent acquisition of The Locker Room. Smaller social audio upstarts like Cappuccino, High Fidelity, Telegram, and Forecast say they shouldn’t be counted out yet either. Some analyst estimates predict that the number of new social audio entrants will be around 100 by the end of this year.

Twitter’s quick move into this territory with the May launch of Spaces shows just how important social audio has become in a very short time. Their fast-follower offering, which allows users with 600+ followers to host audio-only rooms, provides a platform for interviews, panel discussions, music launches, and informal chats—all with ability to scale among Twitter’s established user base. The Spaces launch generated buzz around new functions like the ability to react with emoticons and to allow creators to monetize by charging for tickets and in the process showed how innovation in the social audio space is really just getting started.

3 Themes Shaping the Social Audio Future

I can identify at least three themes that account for the growing appeal of social audio: Authentic Conversations, Serendipitous Access, and Time-Stretching Utility.

Authentic Conversations

New research suggests that the voice, even more so than the eyes, may be the true window to the soul. Our voices transmit ideas and emotions with impressive speed and accuracy. When they are the only cue, voices are a powerful mode of empathy and a far more reliable predictor of intent and emotion versus reading faces or hearing voice + face together. (No doubt why Spotify is testing a feature that will recommend songs based on voice cues). Given this, it is perhaps not surprising to think that during a year when we found themselves ourselves physically apart, we gravitated to an app full of voices to feel more connected.

True, people first rushed to fill the isolation gap with video, but we found it too much. Too polished, too unnatural, and a real drain on brains that simply aren’t wired for so much disembodied interaction. The Clubhouse app (and later other social audio entrants) emerged as the “Goldilocks medium”; it offered just the right balance between flat text and taxing video. Users flocked there to enjoy the familiar cadence of informal conversations. The myriad rooms and clubs became a valued destination for lively exchanges between people with diverse ideas and points of view.

Even as life opens up post-Covid, I think this insight about the power of voice holds the key to future innovation and growth around social audio. This platform allows for deeper and more meaningful conversations, and users benefit from hearing intonation, inflection, and nuance. Because the experience is live and dynamic, the conversations feel authentic. Participants in an audio chat can’t “fake it” with heavily edited scripts or filtered video reels. Social audio is a medium uniquely built upon ideas, and I think it has potential to fill a currently unmet need in the social media ecosystem.

“Social audio is a medium uniquely built upon ideas, and I think it has potential to fill a currently unmet need in the social media ecosystem.”

Serendipitous Access

I have also appreciated the potential for social audio to bring together diverse viewpoints and facilitate unexpected connections. I’ve written before about the death of serendipity in culture and retail, as algorithms create filter bubbles that control more of what we watch, read, and consume. I love the idea that social audio could reinsert much-needed doses of serendipitous conversation back into the social graph. Sure the algorithms may influence what “rooms” or other virtual spaces users find, but their power stops at shaping the dynamic twists and turns of the live human conversations that ensue within them.

Time-Stretching Utility

From a practical standpoint, I love the idea that social audio can help people stretch their time, by plugging audio-only conversations into the cracks of other obligations and activities. Whether we are resuming commutes, walking for exercise, doing dishes, or decompressing at home, audio-only networks can upend the current constraints on when and how we converse with others. This ability to stretch time by multitasking is actually a big part of the overall appeal of voice-tech, fueling growth of related tech like podcasts, voice-search, retail, and voice transcription. I am personally excited to think about ways I could use social audio to maximize time. The fact that I could join or host discussions without worrying about where I am or what I look like, possibly while doing other items on my to-do list really opens my eyes to the functional appeal of this innovation.

**Where Are We Headed?**
Social Audio Opportunities
For Companies &
Their Consumers

Only time will tell which of the current social audio entrants might sustain for the long run, and I believe it is too early to make hard and fast predictions save one. It is safe to bet we will see social audio embedded into a wide range of apps and platforms in the coming years, similar to the way Snapchat Stories prompted the move to ephemeral video content across platforms. I look for social audio—and voice-tech overall—to add a unique, new dimension to the post-Covid connection landscape.

The three themes — authentic conversations, serendipitous access, and time-stretching utility — will certainly guide innovation in the user space, and I’m keeping a close eye on what’s unfolding.

They can also be springboards to help leaders think about how to pursue relevant social audio innovations within companies and among consumers. We’ve only just scratched the surface of applications in these realms, and I see many possibilities in this space.

For Companies

As organizations explore new hybrid working models and learn how to manage a distributed workforce, I believe leaders can leverage the power of social audio to create new venues for deeper conversations and expand access to people and points of view.

Could an enterprise social audio application provide space for richer, more nuanced conversations that currently simply don’t fit into most typical work days?
Could it bring together diverse viewpoints across teams that often (or never) communicate, breaking down silos and sparking unexpected ideas within the organization?
Could it help facilitate the informal dialog we now know to be absent on video but critical to healthy work cultures?

I have my eye on a few applications including Voiceroom, which is a spatially-aware voice platform that aims to bring the social and enjoyable aspects of physical hangouts into the virtual workplace. The Voiceroom interface recreates an audio-only version of the office kitchen table, where people can choose which parts of the conversation they want to join and also choose to break off into other separate discussions. Other apps like Chalk, Space Soft, and Slack’s Connect have similar goals.

Let us explore these, with an eye toward facilitating authentic conversations and access within our organizations and stretching employee’s time along the way.

For Consumers

As we move into the metaverse, technologists predict that life will shift seamlessly between virtual and physical experiences, economies, environments, and ecosystems. The virtual world will be the actual world, and screens and scrolling feeds will occupy an even greater share of consumers’ daily lives.

In this environment, I foresee a role for companies to use the “Goldilocks medium” of social audio to better serve customers and deepen customer/brand relationships. I think we will see innovative companies experiment with ways to use social audio to:

Listen to and learn from their consumers:

Use Case: The Peloton Riders of Clubhouse group has 22,000 followers who avidly discuss all things cycling every Wednesday, with company execs and employees frequently dropping in to share information and establish themselves as thought leaders.
Look for: Social audio to become a new channel for structured insights research, informal consumer listening, troubleshooting, new product testing, and real-time customer service.

Build brand equity by deepening conversations:

Use Case: Burger King’s parent company RBI hosted “The Open Kitchen,” an hour-long chat with company executives the day after reporting 2020 earnings. This was an interesting way to lean into the participatory nature of social audio to have a more nuanced conversation with stakeholders and stand out in a crowded, competitive category.
Look for: More companies to lead and join conversations about the topics to matter to their brand consumers and stakeholders.

Reimagine marketing

Use Case: The voice ad market is expected to grow to $19B by 2022. Instreamatic is piloting software that can insert interactive voice ads into an audio stream. The ads ask questions, understand the intent and tone of a consumers’ natural responses, and take follow-up actions. For example, a demo Uber Eats ad asks if you are interested in having lunch delivered. If you say “no,” the ad pivots to remind you the service offers dinner delivery as well. The company says average engagement can reach 12%, increasing the industry average for mobile almost ten-fold.
Look for: Continued innovation to redefine the sophistication and customization of interactive advertising.

Mark Twain wrote that there is no such thing as a new idea. “It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations.”

I love the idea that the social audio innovation comes out of this ever-turning kaleidoscope—remixing the ancient tradition of spoken language, call-in radio shows, podcasts, and social media networks into a new medium that feels just right for the current moment.

I look forward to “hearing” what you think about this emerging addition to the social media landscape. Find me on Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, or maybe on an emerging platform that is coming to a speaker near you.