Clubhouse is a voice chat social network that has given a lot to talk about since it hit the market in 2020. When a platform is this popular, it's quite common for some businesses to want to replicate its success. For this same reason, Hotline was born and today we will explain how this Facebook alternative to Clubhouse works.
Although Clubhouse is currently an exclusive social network for mobile phones with iOS, it has been well received in all parts of the world. Thanks to its innovation and interesting features, now Zuckerberg and company have started developing a similar platform but with its own features make the difference.
Hotline, the hybrid between Instagram Live and Clubhouse
What is the hotline and how does it work?
Hotline is a web-based application that could be described as a combination of Instagram Live and Clubhouse as it allows creators to speak to an audience who can then ask questions via text or audio. The entire platform was developed by Facebook's in-house research and development group, NPE TEAM, and is only in its first public beta.
The development of this app is led by Eric Hazzard, a man who joined the Facebook team to create a question and answer application that amassed more than 2,5 million daily active users in nine weeks. With Hotline, you are now redesigning a question and answer platform, but very different from what you did before.
Nick Huber, the popular real estate investor, was the first to publicly test Hotline with a live broadcast. Huber represents the type of creator Facebook wants to work with for Hotline. Because? Because Mark Zuckerberg's powerful company sees Nick as someone who helps people expand their career skills or their finances. In Huber's case, he talks about investing in industrial real estate as a second source of income.
Differences with Clubhouse
The hotline works as a combination of Instagram Live and Clubhouse
Hotline and Clubhouse have several well-marked differences, one of which is that the Facebook app requires you to log in with Twitter and then verify your identity via SMS.
As for the listeners section, this it is divided between users who are watching the event (represented by their profile icons) and those who ask questions. At the top are the lists of questions users have asked, so that others can vote for or against. On the other hand, the creator has the opportunity to refer to this section to see what questions they have answered and to bring any listeners to the stage area for conversation purposes.
Currently, users can write their responses and then join the host (on stage) when it's their turn. Guests are represented by their profile icon and they can only communicate via audio when they are on stage. However, there is an option for listeners to turn on the video, but it is currently not working. When questions are asked, you will be able to respond with emojis that include cheers, fire, heart, laugh, surprise, and thumbs up.
Hotline users can express themselves in different ways
Another big difference is that broadcasts are not ephemeral and can be recorded. At the end of an event, the host receives two recordings of the session (one in mp3 and one in mp4). As you have to imagine, these files can later be shared on other social networks like YouTube, Facebook and even edited to share them on TikTok.
Of course, you should be clear that Hotline is in a testing phase at the moment and that you can join a session for free with no audience size limit. If you are in the United States, you can join the waiting list from the official website. However, everything indicates that Hotline will soon expand globally.
If you'd like to try a similar experience right now, we encourage you to check out these Clubhouse alternatives for Android. Didn't you like any of them? So find out when Clubhouse is coming to Android and be patient until then.
