Twitter may add a built-in podcasts tab: Here's what it will offer

New Delhi: As Twitter's live audio product Spaces grows in popularity, it appears that the digital behemoth is already planning to add a podcasts category to its mobile apps. Jane Manchun Wong, a reverse engineer, uploaded a screenshot of a microphone icon in the app's bottom navigation bar, which redirects to a website labeled "Podcasts."

The screenshot gives no indication of how the podcasts feature will work on Twitter, or whether it's the next step for Spaces — a sort of integration for the audio-only chatrooms. Because Spaces is now jammed at the top of feeds, it would make sense to reorganise it into a separate tab. Spaces debuted in 2020, and Twitter delved even deeper into the audio genre after acquiring Breaker, a social podcast platform.

Spaces recently received a significant update, allowing anyone to create a chatroom and allowing all mobile users to record discussions. The tool provides Spaces features similar to podcasts, except the recordings are transitory and only endure 30 days. Adding a dedicated podcast function will pit Twitter against other industry behemoths such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Listeners would no longer be required to join Spaces broadcast live or listen to them within the 30-day limit if the upgrade is implemented; instead, they would be able to choose and listen at their leisure.

Twitter is just one of many social media platforms that are attempting to increase money by promoting podcasts. Last year, Facebook introduced a podcast tool for select creators. Reddit recently allows audio-only Talks recording. It remains to be seen how far the Twitter podcast will progress, but if it does, it will be a significant addition to an already popular Spaces.