In what appears to be a response to the growing popularity of Clubhouse and social audio more broadly, the Instagram is launching two new features: the ability to mute your audio during a live broadcast and the option to turn off your video during the live broadcast.
Currently, people participating in a live event need to be exposed all the time in front of the camera, even while the other is speaking. This is also true for sound: you cannot “silence” the microphone and you must be silent so as not to interrupt the other person's speech.
“We want to develop our Lives product and offer even more ways for our community of creators to generate accidental and engaging conversations with each other and with their audience. By giving people the option to mute the audio or turn off the video, the devices will have the added flexibility for their live streaming experience, as the added functionality can help to reduce the pressure to have a certain look or sound while Live broadcast. “
According to the TechCrunch website, this would be an onslaught by Instagram also to compete with Clubhouse, the platform dedicated to audio chats. As the idea is to take advantage of the existing format of lives, the social network of photos would include both features to match the experience.
The feature joins the recently launched “live rooms” tool, which allows users to live together with up to three other people. The number of users who can follow the broadcast remains unlimited.
The ability to keep the video off can also be a strategy to encourage more people to participate in these broadcasts. Many people are ashamed to expose their image, which is easier if you only have your voice.
