Facebook, one of the biggest social networking site, has now decided to dip their toes in the audio entertainment domain. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a high demand for podcasts, and audio chat rooms.

Clubhouse, the invite-only live audio platform, has attracted a lot of attention, with tech billionares and emerging entrepreneurs discussing new ideas with people invited into these chatrooms. Facebook is also coming up with their own audio chatrooms to compete with Clubhouse.

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Facebook has plans to release Live Audio Rooms on Facebook Messenger this summer to let users chat with friends. Live Audio Rooms will let fans support creators and public figures through its Stars digital-tipping feature, or donate to causes they care about.

The tech giant has also charted out a plan which includes launching Spotify`s audio player, a project called `Project Boombox`, starting next week. It will held Facebook users to access songs and podcasts within the Facebook app.

Moreover, Facebook also plans to add the ability to stream podcasts natively on the platform. It is banking on the 170 million Facebook users who already follows hundreds of thousands of podcast pages on the platform to make this project a success.

“Facebook willhelp you easily find new podcasts and episodes based on your interests, comment on them and recommend them to your friends,” Fidji Simo, head of Facebook App, wrote in a blog post announcing the new features, adding, “And podcast creators will be able to reach and connect with new listeners — all directly within the Facebook app.”

Further, Facebook is alos rolling out a test of Soundbites, short-form audio clips “for capturing anecdotes, jokes, moments of inspiration, poems, and many other things we haven`t yet imagined,” Simo wrote.

With Soundbites, the company will introduce an Audio Creator Fund “to support emerging audio creators and get early feedback on the new product experience.”Initially, Facebook will test Soundbites over the next few months with a small number of creators.

(With agency inputs)