Reddit is shutting down its Clubhouse clone Reddit Talk. The live audio chat service will stop working after March 21, about a month ahead of its second birthday. Users will be able to download their talks until June 1st.
Reddit Talk debuted in April 2021 following the meteoric rise of the social audio app Clubhouse during the coronavirus pandemic. It is one of the many similar services launched around that time amid a newfound craze for audio-based social networks, along with Twitter’s Spaces. But as the pandemic subsided, travel restrictions were lifted and people could once again meet physically and talk. As such, the social audio craze gradually died down.
However, Reddit isn’t sunsetting Talk because of its dwindling popularity. Instead, the company is finding it difficult to maintain the service. “Supporting Talk in the short-term requires significant resourcing – more than we anticipated,” an official statement read. Reddit added that the third-party audio vendor that powered Reddit Talk itself is closing shop. This made things worse for it, forcing a shutdown of the live audio product.
The company plans to bring back Talk or a similar audio service in the future, though. “Reddit’s goal is to become the de facto home for communities. Audio, like Talk, has a place in that,” Reddit said in a post on Wednesday. It originally planned to develop the audio product alongside other improvements for the platform, like ” making Reddit simpler and building better subreddit infrastructure”.
But with its audio partner shutting down its service, Reddit is finding it difficult to allocate enough resources to keep Talk alive as it works on other parts of the platform. “The resources required to keep Talk live during this transition increased substantially,” it said. The company currently doesn’t have any timeline regarding its plans for an audio product.
Reddit Talks hosted after September 1, 2022, can be downloaded
Reddit Talk may have been around since April 2021, but users can only download Talks hosted after September 1, 2022. The company says “this is when we implemented a new user flow that expanded the potential use case of talks”. Downloads will be available on March 21, and until June 1. Reddit says it will share more on how to download Talks ahead of the deadline later this month.
“We know this is not the update that you all were looking for. We strongly believe in the future efforts we’re working on and we would love to continue partnering with you all for potential future experiences for those open to it,” Reddit said.
Reddit is shutting down its Clubhouse clone Reddit Talk. The live audio chat service will stop working after March 21, about a month ahead of its second birthday. Users will be able to download their talks until June 1st.
Reddit Talk debuted in April 2021 following the meteoric rise of the social audio app Clubhouse during the coronavirus pandemic. It is one of the many similar services launched around that time amid a newfound craze for audio-based social networks, along with Twitter’s Spaces. But as the pandemic subsided, travel restrictions were lifted and people could once again meet physically and talk. As such, the social audio craze gradually died down.
However, Reddit isn’t sunsetting Talk because of its dwindling popularity. Instead, the company is finding it difficult to maintain the service. “Supporting Talk in the short-term requires significant resourcing – more than we anticipated,” an official statement read. Reddit added that the third-party audio vendor that powered Reddit Talk itself is closing shop. This made things worse for it, forcing a shutdown of the live audio product.
The company plans to bring back Talk or a similar audio service in the future, though. “Reddit’s goal is to become the de facto home for communities. Audio, like Talk, has a place in that,” Reddit said in a post on Wednesday. It originally planned to develop the audio product alongside other improvements for the platform, like ” making Reddit simpler and building better subreddit infrastructure”.
But with its audio partner shutting down its service, Reddit is finding it difficult to allocate enough resources to keep Talk alive as it works on other parts of the platform. “The resources required to keep Talk live during this transition increased substantially,” it said. The company currently doesn’t have any timeline regarding its plans for an audio product.
Reddit Talks hosted after September 1, 2022, can be downloaded
Reddit Talk may have been around since April 2021, but users can only download Talks hosted after September 1, 2022. The company says “this is when we implemented a new user flow that expanded the potential use case of talks”. Downloads will be available on March 21, and until June 1. Reddit says it will share more on how to download Talks ahead of the deadline later this month.
“We know this is not the update that you all were looking for. We strongly believe in the future efforts we’re working on and we would love to continue partnering with you all for potential future experiences for those open to it,” Reddit said.