Facebook Hotline is an audio-focused Q+A platform under testing - Android

Facebook's experimental app development division NPE Team has released its newest offering. It is called Hotline and is an audio-focused Q&A platform that seems to be inspired by Clubhouse, the coolest kid on the social media block. It is currently a web-only platform with mobile applications reported to be under development.

The idea behind Hotline is to let a user create a session where he will be the host and others will be able to join. All other members will be free to ask questions to get answers or simply become a "watcher". The questions can be asked in audio and text formats depending upon the preference. Even though the audio is an important part of the platform, it also supports video streaming which is one of the things that differentiate it from Clubhouse.

Video for the host and all users will be disabled by default and if someone wishes to be on a video stream, they will need to enable it manually through a toggle at their end. Everyone in the room will be represented by a circular avatar when the audio mode is on and with the video feed if the video streaming is turned on. There are no restrictions on the number of users that can join a room for the time being.

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