United States: Elon Musk, the owner of X, has announced that Spaces, a live audio feature of X, is now allowing hosts to turn on their video during chat sessions. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, released the news and Elon Musk reposted a video tutorial from a user named “Dogedesigner.”
Users of Spaces will now see a new option to “enable video” when creating a new Spaces session. Hosts can choose to use their phone’s front or back-facing camera, and also select between a landscape or vertical view of their video feed.
At present, Video Spaces are only available in the iOS version of the X app and have not yet been made available on Android or the web. Several users have reported experiencing significant lag while testing the feature.
Although it may seem that X is bringing back Periscope by adding video to the previously audio-only Spaces, in reality, this is not the case. X already offers a live broadcast feature, allowing users to stream videos on their profiles and the timelines of their followers. Periscope, before it was shut down, had a feature that allowed hosts to invite other guests to participate in live broadcasts.
For the time being, Spaces only allows hosts to activate their video feeds. This results in the host’s video being significantly displayed, surrounded by icons of co-hosts, speakers, and any listeners. Initially, the display compares to Twitch, except that any selected audience member can join in at any moment. It’s important to note that a host’s video feed only exists within a Spaces session, meaning that users must join the session to view the video feed.
Last year, Elon Musk announced that Spaces would receive video. However, his description of the feature seemed more like a video conferencing app or a video call app like FaceTime. In this type of app, the video feed automatically switches to the person who is presently speaking.
For now, in a video conference, the host’s video feed is displayed prominently, and other speakers, co-hosts, or listeners are indicated by small icons. This platform differs from Twitch in that anyone with permission can respond to the host. However, the host remains the primary focus.
In contrast to X Spaces’ existing live broadcasting feature, which allows users to live stream video directly from the platform, the new video integration offers users a more flexible viewing experience. Spaces allows multiple users to chat in a live chatroom, while regular live broadcasts only allow comments and hearts.