【Comedy Archives】

Facebook executives have Comedy Archivessaid the social network could be all video and no text within the next five years.

But what about sound?

SEE ALSO: Facebook is super thirsty for your Facebook Lives

Facebook announced Tuesday a new option called Live Audio that will let publishers more easily go live with audio only on the network. Similar to the live video experience on Facebook, users can comment and leave reactions.

Facebook users could also listen passively. "We know that people often like to listen to audio while doing other things and think the listening experience will be first class," Facebook product specialist Shirley Ip and software engineer Bhavana Radhakrishnan wrote in a blog post detailing the announcement.

Could Facebook be the next podcasting platform, competing with the likes of Acast, Spotify and iTunes? Perhaps, but it's still in its early stages.

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For now, only Android users can continue listening if they leave the app or lock their smartphone. Listeners on iOS can only listen while browsing Facebook.

The concept of broadcasting live audio isn't new to Facebook. Some publishers have already found ways to do live audio simply by leaving a still image up on a live video stream on the platform.

SEE ALSO: Plug in, tune out: 30 podcasts to get you through the holidays

Over the coming weeks, Facebook is testing the feature with a select set of partners including the radio shows "BBC World Service" and "LBC (Leading Britain's Conversation)," publisher Harper Collins and authors Adam Grant and Britt Bennett.

Facebook said it plans to expand the feature early next year.

Live audio provides a new format for publishers who experience low-connectivity.

"We also know that publishers sometimes go live from areas that lack strong network connectivity. Though we alert the broadcaster if their signal is low, Live Audio presents another option for connecting with your audience in real time from low-connectivity areas," the blog post noted.

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