| Hey all, it's Kurt. The audio boom is officially here and things are getting crowded quickly. Reddit is building a Clubhouse competitor. So are Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and Slack Technologies Inc. Facebook Inc. announced plans to build a whole suite of new audio products earlier this week, which includes a push into traditional podcasts. And then, of course, there's Clubhouse itself, the startup that set off the whole trend. It just raised money at a $4 billion valuation after turning down an acquisition offer from Twitter Inc. for around the same price. I wrote in this newsletter in February that I worried audio chat rooms were a fad, primarily because their live nature works well while everyone is stuck at home, but probably won't translate once life returns to "normal" and people have other stuff to do. We may already be seeing that play out as Clubhouse's app downloads are decelerating quickly. Watching Silicon Valley's mad dash into the audio world has only reinforced my concerns. Now these audio rooms won't just be competing for your time, they'll be jostling with a dozen similar products. I don't know who will ultimately win here, but I do think Facebook may have an edge, and not just because it's massive (though that certainly helps). Facebook seems like it has a better plan than other companies when it comes to audio, including ways to integrate these audio rooms with a bunch of other products. Here's an example: A content creator starts a live chat room to discuss the latest makeup trends. That discussion is then saved as a podcast and shared on the creator's Facebook Page so followers who missed it live can listen to it later. The creator can also take that podcast and use Facebook's artificial intelligence software to find the most engaging segments, which can be shared as audio snippets to the News Feed, promoting the podcast. On top of all that, the creator can accept tips from listeners during the program as a way to make some extra money. That's the scenario Fidji Simo, head of Facebook's main social network, described this week when we chatted about the company's plans. "On Facebook you'll be able to use all these different formats in a way where they interact with each other," she said. Yes, Facebook is the king of copying great ideas from other companies. And yes, predicting Facebook has an edge in the world of social audio is like predicting the New York Yankees will spend a lot of money on free agents. Or that Amazon.com Inc. will keep delivering batteries and paper towels faster and cheaper than everyone else. But this really does feel like Facebook's race to lose. There are still a lot of possible roadblocks. Maybe this is the strategy everyone will employ. Or maybe some other company (Twitter?) will beat Facebook to it. Facebook announced this vision Monday, but says the products themselves are still months away. That's an eon in Silicon Valley. —Kurt Wagner Interested in chatting more about this social sonic boom? I'll be interviewing Facebook's Simo on Twitter Spaces on Friday at 12:30 p.m. PT. You can join the discussion from my account, @kurtwagner8. Hope to see you there! | 
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