Have you heard about social audio? The term got recognition when social audio app Clubhouse launched in April 2020. While it’s still an emerging media category, it typically describes voice messaging, live conversation rooms like those in Clubhouse, and voice tweets.
Already, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Spotify have launched audio tools to compete with Clubhouse.
Here are ten social audio influencers to listen to right now.
Sarah Perez
Serving as a TechCrunch editor, Sarah Perez covers the emergence and growth of social audio. Her Twitter and Facebook posts include news on voice technologies, A.I.-powered music recording apps, and social audio-related app downloads. In April, she wrote about Facebook’s launch of live audio rooms and podcasts. She’s active on all platforms, but Twitter seems to be a favorite.
Spotify’s Clubhouse clone adds six new weekly shows, some that tie to Spotify playlists: https://t.co/HDScgobeEj
— Sarah Perez (@sarahintampa) September 13, 2021
Espree Devora
Named a Top 10 podcaster by Harper’s Bazaar, Espree Devora runs the Women in Tech Podcast, which she promotes on multiple social media platforms, including Instagram. She covers female founders, programmers, startup investors, designers, and technology. Follow her on virtually any platform to get tips on how to build and market your podcast.
Jason Calacanis
It makes sense that those who put seed money into startups become influencers. Jason Calcanis, for example, hosts “The All-In Podcast” and “This Week in Startups.” He writes a personal blog that touches on everything from technology to entrepreneurship and recently began posting audio clips on Racket, including an “Ask Me Anything” option in which people can record their questions for him to answer.
Andrew Chen
A general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Andrew Chen makes a living researching and investing in consumer technology, including social audio. He’s the author of “The Cold Start Problem” (Harper Business, 2021), which explores how new startups are launched. His articles on social audio include “Investing in Clubhouse” and “The Next Phase of Social? Listen Closely, among others. You can sign up for his newsletter through his website and should follow him on Twitter.
Big milestone this week: Turned in the final draft of a book I've been writing for 3 (!!!) years. An ultramarathon of writing - no ghost writing, all orig ideas.
— Andrew Chen📍san francisco (@andrewchen) August 19, 2021
Topic? Network effects, growing users, for marketplaces, social apps, etc.
Preorder: https://t.co/XBxYpNL0so
Brian Solis
In an early 2021 article he wrote for Forbes, Brian Solis explained the rapid rise of audio-based social networking. The speaker, author, and self-described “global innovation evangelist” already has 5.8K followers on Clubhouse. But it’s his long-standing social media—with nearly 278K followers on Twitter and 328K followers on LinkedIn—that keeps would-be entrepreneurs and investors up to date.
1. Define your dream
— Brian Solis (@briansolis) June 28, 2021
2. Turn your dream into goals
3. Break your goals into steps
4. Take it one step at a time pic.twitter.com/Bbmzqk39Vx
Justin Uberti
As the head of streaming technology at @Clubhouse, Justin Uberti knows more about social audio than the average person. He was the tech lead for Google Duo/Hangouts and created WebRTC. He helps newbs and experts alike better understand topics on the matter, including Spotify’s new library for audio effects, and spatial audio, among others.
1/ A brief tangent on the @Clubhouse spatial audio feature we just launched. I've been mainly interested in how spatial audio helps voice chat feel more immersive, but research shows it also improves intelligibility and reduces the cognitive load needed to follow a conversation. pic.twitter.com/mFZHckndae
— Justin Uberti (@juberti) September 8, 2021
Brian Fanzo
Brian Fanzo, an influencer who describes himself as a “futurist keynote speaker, podcaster, and founder of iSocialFanz and Misfit Mafia, is one to watch. He already has 19.8K followers on Clubhouse. He talks and posts about how to monetize and charge what you’re worth as an influencer, how to improve your public speaking skills and the difference between being transparent and oversharing. iSocialFanz’s 20.1K followers on Instagram can learn more about social audio by reviewing his Clubhouse guide.
Alan Sternberg
Alan Sternberg is one of the co-founders of Beams, an app that serves as a “sonic scrapbook” of voices from around the world. He uses social media to encourage collaboration on micro-podcasts and create recordings about things that matter from individual perspectives. On Twitter, he recently asked followers where they were on 9/11 and included a link to record their memories. His focus is on quality, not quantity, of recordings to tell the truth about history and connect amateur storytellers.
Jeremiah Owyang
Who better to promote social audio than someone who researches tech trends to help companies connect with customers? That’s exactly what Jeremiah Owyang, founding partner at Kaleido Insights, does. Social media platform Limor recently shared his take on the emerging voice technology. Earlier this year, he wrote a great blog on “20 Ways Businesses Will Engage Social Audio.”
Jodi Krangle
If you’re looking to untangle the latest in social audio, you can’t get much more niche than a professional voice-over talent who knows her way around a recording studio. Jodi Krangle puts her knowledge and experience to the test as the host of the Audio Branding Podcast, where she interviews advertising, marketing, music, and science professionals. She hosts discussions in a one-hour forum called “Power of Sound Club.” Follow her on LinkedIn for frequent posts on the topic of social audio.
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