Facebook just took its first steps in defeating Clubhouse, with the social network giant officially launching its new 'Hotline' app. Hotline isn't coming from Facebook proper, however, but rather the company's NPE division. Regardless, it could prove to be among the most popular Q&A chatting apps yet.

NPE stands for 'New Product Experimentation.' It's a dedicated team within Facebook that creates experimental apps/services that aren't necessarily ready for the full Facebook branding. NPE has been around since July 2019, and over the years, it's churned out a lot of interesting ideas — including a Pinterest competitor and a TikTok-like app made just for rappers. Not everything that comes out of NPE finds mainstream success, but it's consistently stuff worth talking about.

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With NPE's latest release of Hotline, TechCrunch reports Facebook is finally throwing its hat in the live audio chatting ring. Similar to the current champ of this space — Clubhouse — Hotline allows people to host live Q&A sessions with one or multiple speakers, anyone can join a session to listen as a guest, and the host can choose to bring on select guests to join in on the conversation. Hotline's core functionality is virtually identical to any other app in this space, but it comes with a few original ideas that should help it stand out from the crowd.

How Hotline Is Different From Clubhouse And Twitter Spaces

Facebook Hotline website

The devil is in the details, and a closer look at Hotline quickly reveals that it has a much different approach than Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, or any of the other audio chat apps that have surfaced in recent months. For starters, Hotline isn't an audio-only platform. While speakers can choose to only record audio, they also have the ability to share video at the same time. While the feature isn't live quite yet, it also appears that guests who are chosen to speak will have the option to share their own video, too.

Hotline is also unique in that listeners can write text-based questions they want to be answered by the speaker(s). TechCrunch notes that the audience is categorized into two groups (people that are asking questions and those that are only listening), and when the host of the sessions picks the question to answer next, the person that suggested it can then be brought onto the virtual stage. It'll likely make the overall feel of Hotline be a bit more formal and organized than the overly casual nature of Clubhouse, which could be seen as a good or a bad thing. Further driving that point home is the fact that Hotline sessions are automatically recorded for the host to share, including MP3 and MP4 files.

Considering that Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces have already become go-to destinations for casual chatting, Hotline's different approach to the niche could end up being its best quality. There's no denying that competing apps can become very hectic very quickly. Especially for creators, influencers, or professional speakers, Hotline's structure is bound to be a lot more appealing. The service is currently in public beta for anyone that wants to give it a shot.

Next: Why Clubhouse Clone Twitter Spaces Will Win Regardless Of iOS & Android

Source: Hotline, TechCrunch