Twitter opens up Spaces to anyone with 600+ followers

In context: Twitter is making major plays at turning its microblogging platform into a legitimate content creation tool. Updates to Spaces gives larger accounts the ability to monetize their audio content and keeps pressure on rivals such as Clubhouse.

Twitter today announced that it’s expanding its live audio rooms called “Spaces” to more accounts. Any account with more than 600 followers is now eligible on either iOS or Android whereas before it was only available to a select “feedback group.” The company is also introducing a few more features like a ticketing system, improved live captioning, and scheduling.

now, everyone with 600 or more followers can host a Space.

based on what we’ve learned, these accounts are likely to have a good experience hosting because of their existing audience. before bringing the ability to create a Space to everyone, we’re focused on a few things. ?

— Spaces (@TwitterSpaces) May 3, 2021

Spaces is similar to other audio-only social platforms like Clubhouse that allow a group of people to talk amongst themselves while others listen in. It’s a format that’s ideal for ad-hoc podcasts or interviews.

Twitter says it landed on the 600 follower number because “these accounts are likely to have a good experience hosting live conversations because of their existing audience.”

Twitter will also allow creators to monetize Spaces via a ticketing system. A host can set ticket prices and availability, meaning that only a select amount of people will able to tune in on that particular Spaces session. Twitter says that hosts will earn a “majority” of the revenue from ticket sales, while Twitter will keep a small percentage.

Music artists could unveil a new song via Ticketed Spaces to create hype and earn money. Popular celebrities could chat with a select group of paying fans.

Other new features rolling out to Spaces include support for co-hosts and the ability to schedule or set reminders about upcoming events.

Additionally, Twitter is improving its live captions by allowing them to be paused or customized to be more accurate. This is important because Clubhouse, which is Spaces biggest competitor, doesn’t offer captioning at all yet.

Twitter seems to be moving forward with making the site a place for genuine content creation rather than simply tweeting. The ability to monetize Spaces could go a long way to pulling people away from Clubhouse and other competing platforms.