Ever since the inception of
social media, one thing was
certain, people needed an outlet or a space in which they could express
themselves, discuss topics that catered to their tastes, and more importantly,
find other like-minded individuals in order to share their opinions and
viewpoints with.
اضافة اعلان
Naturally, social media went through its logical phases, the
sharing of thoughts in the form of text, images, and ultimately video. For
example, we currently see
TikTok becoming the number one used platform, even
surpassing Google — something that few would have predicted a couple of years
ago.
However, there was one genre that was left out all entirely,
audio.
While podcasts do enable us to listen and to a very limited
degree, interact with speakers, we have not yet experienced a platform that
utilized sound-bytes as the primary mode of discussion engagement.
This is where Anchor saw the opportunity; in 2018 their team
launched an updated version of the app, completely revamping it from what
appeared to be a minimal viable product (MVP) and transforming it into a fully
functioning, easy on the eyes platform.
So what is Anchor, its potential drawbacks, and where do we
see the audio ecosystem moving forward within the span of the following years? Jordan
News is here to tell you.
Audio: Unexplored, messy, and personalized
Whenever we think of audio, our minds most likely think of
phone calls or voice messages left by our friends and peers at work through our
preferred messenger. However, most of the time these messages are private in
nature and for good measure.
While a message posted on a platform may still contain a
certain degree of anonymity, the voice gives persona to the individual.
While videos in this day and age is considered the golden
standard for content creation online, be it from influencers or just people
that are looking to express themselves online, removing the visual element from
a message while retaining its vocal element may seem backward to some extent.
Yet it works beautifully on this social media platform.
While advertised as a podcast hosting platform, Anchor’s
actual use case is far more unique. Akin to Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
users are able to post whatever is on their mind in the form of a status
update, with their voice.
While at first this may seem counterintuitive, some have
utilized this to create their own “snippets” of their world in audio form.
These “snippets” have seen a dramatic rise as a mode of media, particularly in
podcast area.
However, unlike podcasts, people from all around the world
are able to speak their minds and share their perspectives with their viewers
using their voices. And unlike video, where one has to prepare the setting, and
shoot multiple takes before a video is perfected and ready for posting, Anchor
encourages people, indirectly, to free-flow their mind unto the platform and
create dialogue with other users.
The platform is not perfect, however. Theoretically, the
idea is relatively simple, but we did run into a couple of problems when trying
to read a comment section that featured multiple responses. Unlike text which
one can skim through briefly, with Anchor it’s a far more tedious process.
While you can speed up the playback process as one would on a regular player
but it does become hectic.
However, that is a problem that few will run into, as the
platform as it currently stands is relatively barren of any heavyweight
conversations. While engagement is present, and the numbers of the platform
continue to grow, we feel that Anchor is currently lacking in the number of
users it needs in order to showcase a thriving environment — a fact that will
most certainly change as it increases in users.
It is clear that there is definitely interest in the
platform, and many users are using it for personal journal entries, a glance
into the private world of the person themselves, or as a middle ground between
revealing one’s identity in video format, albeit more engaging than text on the
traditional social media platform between the poster and other users.
Anchor, now available on both
Android and
iOS, has been
ahead of the game for quite some time in terms of monetization as users are
able to subscribe to those content creators that they find entertaining
starting at $0.99 similar to what TikTok and Instagram have begun testing in
the last few months.
Anchor also targets those that are looking to go pro in the
podcasting world by providing tools that integrate with professional podcasting
equipment.
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