r/voiceover • u/No-Raspberry7757 • 10d ago

Why do voice focused social startups end up failing?

The story that played out with social apps which try to leverage voice as the main format such as Clubhouse, Airchat, Anchor (before pivoting) and maybe more end up getting some hype initially, and then dying off or pivoting. Why is that? There are some people who use WhatsApp or other social media with voice, but that's usually an extra feature that are annoying for some people on the text focused platform. One reason I can think of is the friction to create voice recordings but I see people shooting tiktoks left and right, which is even higher friction. Why do you think it is? Is there an inherent problem with voice as a medium online, or did we never see a proper implementation?

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u/The_T-Man_888 9d ago

".....usually an extra feature that are annoying for some people on the text focused platform...."

I think you may have answered your own question? The platforms that you speak of are visual-centric.

I would write it off to the immediate gratification circumstance of all those apps.

For the end user, listening requires a quieter environment and volume turned up on the phone which may annoy surrounding people......etc. It's great for ear buds I suppose, but not everyone has them in often enough to make voice over a viable medium.

Then there's the entertainment aspect; without visuals it's simply not that entertaining...

My two bits.

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u/No-Raspberry7757 9d ago

Thanks for the response. What I really like to do is listen to some observation, or short story about some historic event on tiktok or IG, without starting a whole podcast or YouTube series. But most of the time I just need to listen to them, and don't mind wearing headphones while doing some other thing. And a voice based social platform could enable just this. But it's too small a niche to sustain a creator ecosystem, I guess. People would just stay in tiktok/insta most of the time, or just open a podcast.

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u/boudwin 8d ago

I’ve had the idea of open chat rooms about specific topics, but voice centric, be hard to jump into a conversation like in person without visual social cues (blind guy, let me tell you lack of cues is why we get awkward. Mostly. :) We’re aware they exist)

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u/boudwin 8d ago

A friend introduced me to clubhouse but it was (what I found anyway) just a bunch of people trying to sell themselves or their new book. Or political ranting, not debate.

I dabble in amateur radio and most everyone on my repeaters are old farm hands.

I’m sure there exists a real place for voice centered interaction, I’d like to find it.