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| The hotline integrates Clubhouse and Instagram Live |
Facebook's in-house R&D team launched its latest experiment called Hotline today during its public beta.
The web app is best described as a combination of Instagram Live and Clubhouse so that the creator can speak to the audience, who can then ask questions with text or voice.
However, unlike the club, content producers can operate the camera instead of the activity, not just the audio.
The new app is inspired by the ever-growing social network, and anyone who has previously used Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, or any social network with voice only on their phone will find the hotline user interface familiar.
However, there are also many differences between the hotline and current apps (such as Clubhouse) as the app encourages users to log in via Twitter and then verify their identity via SMS.
The website for the service is now available but there are only waiting lists and application tools for hosting your own software.
Facebook has created themes for the mobile version of the app, although these are not currently available.
The news that Facebook created its own club version first surfaced in February, although Hotline and the rival club the team behind the video chatting platform Messenger Rooms are said to be different products.
A hotline operates differently from club and spaces where the host can use video clips and organize a more formal presentation with built-in questions and answers instead of just opening audio calls in the club.
The app also allows the host to record the session in audio and video formats. Then the host receives two recordings of the session, one in MP3 format, the other in MP4 format.
The main part of a hotline question and answer is for the host to send questions to the audience via SMS. Then audience members can vote on the questions they want answered and then use the emoji comments to respond to the ongoing conversation.
The presenter can also bring viewers to the virtual stage to directly ask questions and possibly engage in a longer conversation.
That way, the hotline event is more like a mix of Twitch podcasts and live broadcasts. In this case, the audience has to attend, but the host's control over the conversation remains the same.
The host has full control over the experience, and can remove irrelevant questions from the queue, or remove people from the conversation.
For the first test, Facebook employees will handle the incident and remove anyone who violates Facebook's community standards, terms of use, data policy, or additional terms of the NPE team.
Facebook said: We want to understand how interactive and direct multimedia answers to questions can help people learn from experts in areas such as professional skills.