Do you recall Clubhouse, the audio-only social media app that was essentially Twitter Spaces before Twitter Spaces existed? Let me refresh your memory: It was a popular app in the early days of the pandemic, allowing users to join various chats on various topics as often as they wanted.
When it first launched, it was a huge success, prompting other social media platforms to copy it, such as Twitter Spaces, Facebook’s Audio Rooms, Spotify Greenroom(Opens in a new tab), and Reddit Talk.
However, after its initial popularity, the buzz surrounding Clubhouse faded. Nobody uses the social media platform, and the duplicates distributed by various other platforms have also failed.
As a result, Reddit has announced that its live audio chats will be discontinued on March 21, just two years after its launch.
The company stated in a post that the feature was shut down due to resourcing issues, not a lack of interest.
“The goal of Reddit is to become the de facto home for communities. Audio, like Talk, has a role to play in this. However, there is significant work that needs to be done before incorporating audio, such as making Reddit simpler and building better subreddit infrastructure “According to the company.
“Our original plan was to keep Talk running while we worked on this. Unfortunately, the third-party audio vendor that we use for Talk is discontinuing its services. In other words, the resources needed to keep Talk running during the transition increased significantly.”
The social media giant stated that there are no plans to bring Talk or any other audio feature back in the future, but users will be able to download any Talks hosted after September 1, 2022, for a few months after the shutdown.
“We realize this isn’t the update you were looking for,” Reddit said. “We have a strong belief in the future efforts we are working on and would love to continue collaborating with you all for potential future experiences for those who are interested.”
