Reddit Talk is a Clubhouse competitor for subreddits, but is the community interested?

A hot potato: The leading concern with Reddit Talk at this hour seems to be centered on moderation. The general consensus is that mods already have a lot on their plate; having to moderate live audio chats would take up even more time, and might not be worth the hassle.

Reddit is testing a new Clubhouse-like feature that lets moderators host live audio conversations in their subreddits.

As it stands today, there’s no shortage of ways to communicate on Reddit including text, video, images and live streams. But in some circumstances, having an audio-only conversation would be the most applicable medium and that is where Reddit Talk could thrive.

The new functionality is still in the early stages; interested communities can sign up to join the waitlist. Once accepted, moderators will be able to start talks that can be joined by any other Reddit user on Android or iOS. Participants can react to the conversation with emojis and even “raise their hand” for an opportunity to speak.

Moderators will have the power to invite, mute and remove speakers from a talk, even banning them from rejoining should the need arise.

Reddit said Talk is for Q&As, AMAs, lectures, sports discussions, community feedback or simply to give subreddit users a place to hang out.

As anyone that is familiar with the platform knows, Reddit users aren’t always receptive to change. Last year when a chat room feature debuted, it took roughly 24 hours before Reddit rolled it back due to feedback and concerns from the community.

We’ll keep an eye on this and see how it plays out over the coming days.

Masthead courtesy Primakov