Facebook Hotline – New Webapp That’s A Mashup Of Clubhouse And Instagram Live

Facebook’s internal R&D group, NPE Team, has today launched its latest experiment, Hotline, into public beta testing. The web-based application (no iOS or Android mobile apps AFAIK) could be described as a mashup of Instagram Live and Clubhouse, as it allows creators to speak to an audience who can then ask questions through either text or audio. However, unlike Clubhouse, creators can opt to turn their cameras on for the event, instead of being audio-only.

Some highlights:

• Users sign in with Twitter then verify their identity via SMS.
• Hosts have full control over the experience, and can remove inappropriate questions from the queue or remove people from their Hotline session
• Hotline events are recorded. After the event, the host will receive two recordings of the session — one as an mp3 and another as an mp4.
• Anyone can join a Hotline for free and there’s no limit on audience size
• Potentially USA only, for now. I was not able to launch it from AU.