Twitter is working on Spaces Recordings, a feature that will allow hosts to share tweets that include audio recordings of previous Spaces. When hosts share the recordings, they can now see how many people joined live as well as how many people replayed the recording later.
A Twitter spokesperson stated that the long-teased feature will remain in closed testing for a little longer, but that the testing group has been expanded several times since launch. Twitter intends to make this feature more widely available in the future.
Users in the live space will notice a “Rec” button with a red dot next to it when a Space is being recorded. If a host later shares the recording, they can change the start time so that future listeners don’t have to sit through minutes of dead air if the Space didn’t start right away. Users can see who is talking and who is in the room when listening to a recorded Space, just like they can in a live Space.
These features are beneficial to listeners because they allow them to interact with content that they may have missed from their favourite hosts asynchronously. However, for the hosts, this replay feature makes it easier to build an audience. In November, Clubhouse introduced a similar feature called Replay, which allows users to download audio and edit it before sharing it as a podcast if they so desire. Twitter has been allowing users to download their Spaces audio files from the previous 30 days since June.
Spaces has become a Twitter staple, even taking up the center tab on the mobile app. However, the expansion of the live audio feature has not been without setbacks. Twitter Spaces users have recently reported being served blatantly harmful content, including Spaces with racist titles that remained in their feeds even after being reported. Other live audio apps, such as Clubhouse, have also had difficulty moderating hateful content. Twitter hasn’t said whether or how its Spaces moderation will expand beyond its existing reporting features.
“We’re looking into more proactive detection and developing new moderation options,” a Twitter spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Spaces is an iterative product, and as more people use it, we’ll continue to learn, listen carefully, and improve based on feedback.”
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