What is Social Audio?

Ah social media. You love it, you hate it, or sometimes both. Wherever you stand, there’s no denying the impact social media has had on our lives. From its humble beginnings pre-millennium to the juggernaut platforms of today, social media has come in a variety of forms. All of them come down to the human desire for connection. Social media takes that and allows us to share parts of ourselves with people we may not have otherwise been able to meet.

The journey of social media eventually sprung a branch in 2020 called social audio. Social audio is a term used to describe a segment of social media where the primary form of communication involves audio. The pioneer was Clubhouse, an app that allowed people to engage in live conversation. 

Since then, social audio has proliferated, either as entirely new apps or existing ones launching their own takes. This proliferation should come as no surprise. Humans have a natural inclination to socialize, but traditional social media can only replicate human interaction to a degree. 

While text-based platforms may be convenient, social audio takes another step by introducing the authentic and intimate nature of the human voice. This isn’t to say social audio is the most engaging form of social media; rather, that the nature of engagement is different. That difference being a touch of human. 

How Does Social Audio Work?

Since social audio is a segment of social media, it shares a lot of the same infrastructure. You sign up for an account, create your own profile and username/handle, follow folks you want to see (or hear) on your feed, and usually access it via a mobile app. But the means of creating and consuming content separate the two.

We can further segment social audio apps based on those means. Simplistically, this is one or both of two things: live conversation and recorded messages.

How Do Live Conversations Work on Social Audio

Live conversation has made up the major players in the social audio space. It is how social audio got its start, so when people think of it, they think of speaking in real-time with others. This involves:

• Joining a chat room as an attendee
• The host and co-hosts talk about the topic of their choice
• If allowed by the hosts, the attendee can also speak on the topic, such as by “raising their hand”
• The attendee can also leave comments and emojis that the hosts can see in real-time
• Anyone is free to start their own chat room on the topic of their choice
• Conversations can be short or long

How Do Recorded Voice Notes Work on Social Audio

The recorded message approach involves a feed more reminiscent of typical social media. A user can scroll through voice notes and listen to what others have to say on their own time. This involves:

• Recording a voice note, typically short-form
• Adding a text caption, transcription of what you said, and/or accompanying photo
• Listening to your feed or searching for content
• Commenting with text
• Commenting with a voice note to start an asynchronous conversation of recorded messages

Both methods provide a stark difference from standard social media. Whether you’re recording a voice note, listening to one, leading a conversation, or sitting in on another’s, this all involves speaking and listening as the primary method of engagement. While that audio can be supplemented with photos and text, you go into social audio with the expectation that what you say and what you hear drives the content.

Interested in giving social audio a try? Sign up for Voicebox! We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

Social Audio Corner is a series where we discuss all things related to the audio segment of social media, from latest developments to use cases and more.