Twitter Is Expanding This Audio Chat Room Feature That's Just Like Clubhouse

Twitter is about to take your experience on the app to a whole new level, thanks to an audio-only "Space" that will remind you a whole lot of the Clubhouse app. Get ready to speak up — literally — on Twitter, because the social media platform is about to move out of the test phase for Twitter Spaces. If you're not familiar, Spaces on Twitter gives you the ability to create and join audio-only chat rooms on the app. If you're ready to try out the Clubhouse-like experience, here's how to use Twitter Spaces.

Twitter began beta testing Spaces with underrepresented groups, including women, in December 2020 in order to get initial feedback from users who typically receive more online abuse. As of March 15, the feature is still in testing, which means all of the features aren't live for all Twitter users, but according to Twitter, the company plans to expand the ability to start Twitter Spaces for iOS and Android users in upcoming weeks.

Even though Twitter Spaces is still in test mode — only a select group of iOS users are currently able to create a Space — you can still enjoy some of the features. All iOS and Android users can listen or speak in a Space, which sets it apart from Clubhouse, the audio chat room app, which as of March 15, is also in beta and only available for iOS users who have an invite.

Whether you'd like to create or join a Space, you'll want to make sure you first download the Twitter app, which is available on Google Play and the App Store. Once you've got the app downloaded, there are a few steps to follow to get you to your first Twitter audio chat room.

How To Start A Twitter Space:

To create your own Twitter Space before the wide release, you'll need to be one of the select iOS users with hosting powers. You'll also want to make sure that your Twitter account is public, since private accounts aren't allowed to start a Space.

Once you're ready to start a Space, head to your Twitter home feed and then long press on compose (what you'd normally select to write a Tweet). Then, select the Spaces icon — which features circles in the shape of a diamond and is on the left — to begin creating your Space. Another way you can start a Space is by tapping your profile picture in Twitter Fleets, and then scrolling to the right and tapping Spaces.

When creating your Space, you'll be able to add a name and fill in a description to give participants a preview of what your room is all about. You can edit the name and description at any time while you have an active Space, so don't fret if you have to make a change.

As a host, you have control over which participants have the ability to speak or not. Depending on how you'd like to set up your room, you can choose to give speaking permissions to "Everyone," "People you follow," or "Only people you invite to speak." If you opt for "Only people you invite to speak," you'll be able to send out invites to speakers via DM.

Once you're ready to start broadcasting live, you'll want to tap "Start your Space." You can then turn your mic and turn on the mic function for speakers in the room by toggling "Allow mic access."

How To Join A Twitter Space:

All iOS and Android users can join a Twitter Space while it's live. Since Spaces are always public, you're free to listen in on any room you like, even if you aren't following the host. You can find Spaces at the top of your Twitter timeline where Fleets is, and if you're following a host or a speaker, your timeline's Spaces will light up in purple to notify you that the room has begun.

You can also join Spaces through a link that's shared by the host or publicized in a tweet, DM, or anywhere else.

How To Use A Twitter Space:

There's no limit on how many people can listen to a Twitter Space, but only 11 people (including the host) can be speaking at one time. If you're a host, you'll have the ability to manage who can speak once the Space has started. If you're a listener who'd like to get speaking privileges, just select the Request icon below the microphone. If the host and speakers have turned on captions in the Space, you can see them by heading to your Spaces settings and tapping "View Captions."

Hosts have the ability to remove, report, or block users in their Space. If you're a participant, you can also report and block users, as well as report the Space. If a Space has violated Twitter's rules, it may be removed. The host can choose when to end the Space, or the Space will automatically end when the conversation comes to a close.

Though the ability to create a Space hasn't been rolled out to all Twitter users as of March 15, you can certainly get started on the audio-only experience by listening or speaking up in a room. As the company continues to build Spaces, Twitter actually encourages users to @ them! You can share your feedback directly to the Twitter Spaces account, @TwitterSpaces.