Twitter announced today its official plans to bring podcasts to its big blue app, with integrations rolling out now.
According to an announcement posted on the Twitter product blog,
Starting Thursday, August 25, we’re integrating podcasts into Twitter as a part of our newly redesigned Spaces Tab. We know that some discussions need more than 280 characters, and bringing people closer to the ideas, content, and creators they know and love is core to Twitter no matter where the conversations take place.
More specifically, users will soon start to notice a redesign of the Twitter app that will further highlight the Spaces tab located at the bottom of the app, identified by what already looks like podcast microphone.
As part of the redesign users will now be able to navigate personalized hubs that aggregate similar audio content under themes such as News, Music, Sports and others.
However, for users who are more particular about their podcast curation, it seems Twitter is following YouTube, in so far as attempting to personalize rather than provide.
Based on the following description, it seems users will be spending some time sorting through algorithmic recommendations rather than organizing personally handpicked content.
These new hubs will also feature the most popular and engaging podcasts from around the world. Our internal research indicates that 45% of people who use Twitter in the US also listen to podcasts monthly, so we’ll automatically suggest compelling podcasts to help people easily find and listen to the topics they want to hear more about. For example, if someone regularly interacts with Vox content on Twitter, they’ll probably see a Vox podcast in a Spaces hub.
Through Twitter’s process, users could ideally curate their podcast content with a series of “thumbs up or down,” but it’s not clear how long that could take or if the app will host more niche podcasts like Apple and Google Podcasts already do.
With more people going back to work and more traditional podcast listening rebounding, Twitter’s play for that audience might succeed where Spaces-alone seems to be stagnating.
