Spotify Takes on Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces with Spotify Greenroom

The social audio app scene, with new entrants announced every few months, is heating up. Clubhouse is the original social audio app pioneer that generated excitement and interest due to its invite-only membership policy when it launched in 2020. Next, Twitter followed suit with Twitter Spaces, then Facebook Live Rooms, Discord and many others. The most recent entrant to this arena is Spotify Greenroom.

What is Spotify Greenroom?

Spotify Greenroom app is Spotify’s first attempt to create a social media platform. Spotify Greenroom is a mobile application that allows users to join and host live online audio conversations. You can sign up for Spotify Greenroom with your Spotify account or create a new one. Spotify acquired Locker Room—an app by Betty Labs, and rechristened it to Spotify Greenroom. Initially used only for sport-related content, Greenroom now features conversations focused on sports, music and culture. Launched in 135 countries around the world, Spotify Greenroom plans to target a global audience.According to a launch report by The Verge, Spotify has also announced a creator’s fund to pay popular US-based content creators. Although the report states that deals with popular creators are in the works, information about this feature is currently scarce. However, users can sign up for more information at this link.

How does Spotify Greenroom work?

Spotify Greenroom audio app works as a space for live conversations through rooms. Each room has a host, speakers, and listeners. Hosts start Rooms on Spotify Greenroom and also manage speakers in the room. Listeners can request to speak by clicking the ‘Ask to Speak’ button. Each room also has an optional discussion area where users can have text-based conversations. Hosts can easily toggle discussions on or off. Rooms can either be scheduled through the calendar or go live instantly. In addition, all logged-in Spotify Greenroom users can create a room. Similar to Clubhouse, Spotify Greenroom has policies for hate speech, inappropriate behaviour, and other forms of harassment. Rooms are focused on networking and discussions. Spotify Greenroom has a unique way of distributing likes in the form of Spotify Greenroom gems. You can earn gems by hosting a room, or you can reward speakers for saying something interesting by giving them a gem through their profiles. 

How is Spotify Greenroom different from Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces?

The main difference between Greenroom and Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces is that Greenroom offers native recording of live audio sessions. Users can then listen to these sessions as podcasts on Spotify at any time. Additionally, Greenroom also provides a live text chat feature similar to YouTube, in which users can chat with each other while listening to the speaker.

Which platforms does Greenroom support?

Spotify Greenroom is available for iOS and Android—making it accessible to millions of users on both platforms. Both Spotify Greenroom Android app and Spotify Greenroom iOS app are very similar.

How can I download and get started with Greenroom?

Getting started with Spotify audio app AKA Greenroom is easy. All you need to do is download and install the app from the App Store or Play Store. Once installed either log in using your Spotify credentials or create a new account. Note that Greenroom requires you to verify your identity in some regions by entering a code sent to you via SMS while creating a new account. Once you’ve created an account, choose the users and groups you wish to follow, accept Spotify Greenroom’s terms and conditions, and boom! Additionally, Greenroom also requires adding a profile picture.You can start hosting content right away by clicking the Create room button. Simply give your room a name, add a name for your show or podcast if you have one, and choose an audience. You can also choose to receive a copy of your room audio and enable or disable text chat in the discussion area of your room. Once you’ve selected all the options, click Go Live to host your live room!You can invite others to join your room, share a meeting invite or send room information to your followers if you have any. Once done, click the End Room button to end the broadcast. If you have chosen to, a copy of your session will be emailed to you by Spotify.

How many users does Greenroom have?

Greenroom launched a week ago, and user data is not yet available for this app. 

Spotify Greenroom vs Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces

1. Native recordings:

   With native recording provided, Greenroom addressed challenges that Clubhouse has been struggling with—including hate speech, racism, misogyny, and antisemitism. Although Clubhouse has a temporary buffer while the room is live, Spotify’s native recording feature is a win-win for them.

2. Accessibility:

   Greenroom is available for everyone at launch. No exclusivity, no invites to scrounge for, no phased rollouts. Everyone gets the app instantly.

3. Moderation:

   Moderation on all platforms is limited, although Spotify states that they do not allow hate content. Greenroom uses AI to moderate and block any spiteful content. However, hate speech regulation is still a grey area.

4. Reporting incidents:

   Reporting incidents is easier on Greenroom as all you need to do is click the user profile and report it or contact the customer support team.

Parting thoughts

Spotify Greenroom is the newest kid on the block. As audio content creation platforms evolve and get more popular over time, they will have more diverse content and user groups with their loyalties and preferences. We used the app and loved it, however, we will give Greenroom time to get more popular creators onboard and add features to help Spotify users get notified if any of Spotify’s content creators are going live on Greenroom. Until then, host your rooms, let your friends in and enjoy the show!  

WWDC 2021 | Apple Unveils Latest Updates for iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and more

It's that time of the year again! Apple kicked off its annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference this year with a slew of updates across product lines. If you did not get the time to watch the live stream of the WWDC 2021 or were in a different time zone, we've got you covered! Here are the Apple WWDC 2021 highlights!  

The new iOS 15 is here!

iOS 15 is the latest and greatest version of iOS that promises the world, and then some! Craig Federighi announced the release of this new iOS that will focus on staying connected better, finding focus in tasks and notifications, using intelligence everywhere and exploring the world. iOS WWDC 2021 updates will be available as a public beta in July, with the full release following the beta "this fall". 

Updates to FaceTime

I love FaceTime, and I use it nearly every day to speak to friends and family. Here's what iOS 15 brings to FaceTime:

• Voice isolation

FaceTiming while vacuuming or from a busy intersection? You can now (toggle to) hear people better, no matter where they are. This means that I can now vacuum the living room during conference calls! Huzzah! 

• Spatial audio

I love this bit! If you're using compatible audio hardware, you can now hear a person's voice from where they appear on the screen. It's magic! (I am an amateur musician, and I think spatial audio in FaceTime was the real highlight of the WWDC keynote).

• Portrait mode

I think my sister will love this update. With blurred backgrounds, you can keep yourself in focus during calls. This update will also make FaceTime a better option for corporate calls. Goodbye, Google Meet-o-saurus?

• SharePlay

Shared video and audio streams allow groups to listen to music or content together. This can be an innovative new way to help students, co-workers, or interest groups watch content together—in sync!

• FaceTime links

This reminds me of the time when Blackberry Messenger came to Android as an app! FaceTime has finally caught up with the rest of the world. You can now invite your Android or PC friends to join in on FaceTime calls. 

HomePod Mini is now stereo!

HomePod minis will now work as stereo speakers! Hook your speakers onto Apple TV, and you've got stereo sound! Woohoo! 

The new Focus mode

Procrastination is now a thing of the past (maybe). You can now switch your phone into various customizable modes. If you're at work, switch on the "Work" mode to turn off notifications from personal apps, or the inverse for "Personal" mode—so you can miss that email from your boss at 10 pm!The Focus mode introduced in the Apple WWDC iPhone update helps you to group and silence (less critical) notifications. This can even help you sleep better as your phone would not go "ding, ding" all night if you forget to put it on silent mode.  

Live text recognition

This is where the intelligence bit comes in. Your camera is now literate! Handwritten and printed text is now readable, selectable, searchable and pasteable. The camera can even recognize animal breeds, landmarks and such.  

3D Apple Maps

Apple Maps is now in 3D! You can see elevations, landmarks, crosswalks, bike lanes, and much more rendered in 3D. Additionally, just like in Google Maps, Apple maps can use the camera to scan your surroundings and orient you better—so you can take your first step right. 

Updates to AirPods

So I just got my new AirPods Pro, and I am excited about these updates!

• Conversation mode: I believe this is where Voice Isolation kicks in. You can now boost the volume of voices and reduce ambient noise during a face-to-face conversation.
• AirPods now work with FindMyApp even when in the case. They can now let me know if I leave them behind. Awesome!
• Spatial audio is coming for tvOS and M1-powered Macs.

 

iPadOS updates

Here's what is new for those (like my boss) who have an iPad or a beautiful iPad Pro (hint, hint).

• Bigger home screen widgets – because of the bigger screen! Duh!
• App Library is coming to iPadOS
• A new multitasking menu that will make it easy to switch between running apps instead of using those annoying gestures (I hope).
• You can now tag (@mention) people in shared notes to get their attention and highlight changes on shared docs. 
• Create Quick Notes anywhere by swiping up from the bottom right of the screen.
• A new system-wide text translation that includes real-time in-person conversation translation. Wow!
• Apple Swift Playgrounds let you build and submit apps to the App Store from your iPad.

 

Security updates

The world is concerned about privacy, safety and security more than ever before. Here's how Apple is working on making your iWorld more secure:

• Tracking pixels will not be able to view your IP address or locations while using the Mail app
• App Privacy Reports will give you a summary of how often an app has accessed your location, photos and more so you can check any unexpected behaviour.
• Siri's speech recognition will now be on-device instead of on Apple's servers. This will also enable Siri to work without an internet connection.
• You can now add recovery and legacy contacts to iCloud. This means that the chosen few recovery contacts can help you log in to your iCloud account if you lock yourself out. Additionally, legacy contacts can get access to your iCloud data if you pass away.

Health updates

Apple is making its Health app and iOS smarter. Here's how:

• You can now use Health Sharing to share health data with your family or friends.
• Trends in the Health app will highlight step and heart rate patterns.
• Walking steadiness will analyze your gait and step timing to predict if your fall risk is increasing. This is great for the invalid and the elderly.

 

Updates to the new Apple watchOS

Apple made many updates to watchOS 

• The new Apple watchOS 8 can now track your respiratory rate and patterns, including when you're sleeping.
• You can now use portrait-mode photos as your watch face.
• You can now "Scribble" on text using the crown for cursor placement. 

 

Siri says hello, world!

Siri is finally coming to third-party devices. At the WWDC 2021 Apple announced that it will allow the use of Siri technology on products such as ecobee thermostats and others. 

Updates to the new macOS

The latest upcoming release of macOS will be called macOS Monterey. This brand new macOS Monterey WWDC announcement brings a slew of features that include:

• Universal control helps you to use one keyboard and mouse across various devices seamlessly. When a compatible device is nearby, you can seamlessly extend your mouse to the other device. 
• iPads can now become an extended display for MacBooks, making them into one giant canvas.
• SharePlay is coming to macOS, making it easy to watch videos and play music together.
• Shortcuts automation will also make its way to macOS. This will allow you to automate tasks using scripts quickly.
• Safari gets a "Tab Group" system akin to Chrome. Tabs are now smaller and can automatically sync between iCloud devices.
• AirPlay will allow you to send AirPlay content to the display of your Mac, just like AppleTV.

macOS Monterey will be available "this fall". 

Updates for developers

Although this is a developer-focused conference by name, Apple keeps the keynote customer-focused most of the time and saves the tech bits for the breakout sessions in the Apple developer conference. Here are the developer-focused highlights of the WWDC 2021:

• 3D object scanning for iOS will allow 3D-scanning functionality in apps without having to reinvent the wheel.
• Now perform better A/B AppStore page testing by building multiple App Store product pages for one app with various icons and screenshots to see what looks best.
• TestFlight is now available across the "iEcoSystem"—the service for distributing pre=release or beta apps is now on iPhone, iPad, watchOS and macOS.
• New APIs for SharePlay, Focus and other new features.

Apple gave us a lot to think about, get excited about, and work on ideas for new and innovative apps that will leverage the power of the latest features offered by macOS. I think I have covered everything from the WWDC 2021 announcement. If you think I've missed something out, let me know in the comments below. Do you believe that you have a fantastic app idea that can leverage the power of the new functionality available with these updates? Let us know. Our macDev experts can help you dish out an MVP before the competition.  

6 Easy Steps on How to Find Product-Market Fit Of Your App Idea/Product

Hi! My name is Shubham, and I have spent many years helping startup founders and entrepreneurs understand how to find product-market fit for their products.So, you have a product that you believe will solve a problem that plagued the market for years. You’ve pulled dozens of all-nighters and brought your idea to life in the shape of a Minimum Viable Product. Your product is ready, ripe for the taking. You’ve told friends, family and co-workers to check out your new baby. Everyone loves your product and gives you excellent feedback, but no one seems to use it. If this sounds like you, you’re at the right place.As an entrepreneur, it is essential to know whether your target customers need your product or if they would eagerly pay for it. So, if your product is flying off the shelf and you are clamouring to meet this demand, you have attained a product-market fit. 

What does product-market fit mean?

In 2007, Marc Andreessen—the co-founder of influential Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz wrote a blog post where he coined the term “product-market fit”. He described this as “being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” Simply put, a product-market fit is a stage for a startup where they have successfully identified target customers and can serve them with the right product. When you attain this stage, you have found a product-market fit. 

How to measure product-market fit?

Although there are no set rules or metrics that can help you find out when you’ve attained a product-market fit, you can tell when you’re going in the right direction, thanks to inputs from Andrew Chen—a venture capitalist.  Andrew suggests using a mix of both qualitative and quantitative metrics to gauge success and to know how to find product-market fit. Here are some qualitative and quantitative metrics to help you get started.  

Metrics for measuring product-market fit

Quantitative metrics

• NPS: NPS or Net Promoter Score measures the willingness of customers to recommend your startup’s product or service to others. NPS is used as an indication of your customers’ overall satisfaction with your product or service and is a good way to understand if customers love your product enough to recommend it or not.

• Churn rates: Customer Churn is the percentage of customers that cancel their subscriptions or stop using a product in a given time period. If the number of users moving on from your product is higher than the number of users coming in, you’ve got a problem on your hands.

• Growth rates: The growth rate is a factor measured in percentage that determines the acquisition of a customer base over a given time range. Your growth rate must always increase to indicate a product-market fit.

• Market share: The percentage of the market that your product commands are your market share.

Qualitative metrics

• Word of mouth
• Increased media outreach and coverage

 

What is a  product-market fit pyramid?

Dan Olsen—the author of the book The Lean Product Playbook, created the product-market fit pyramid—an actionable model that uses five key components to define the product-market fit for your product.This is a hierarchical model in which each pyramid layer relates to those above and below it. When you are building a successful product, you form a plausible hypothesis for each of these pyramid components. You then validate your key hypotheses against the Lean Product Process to improve your product-market fit.  

What is the lean-product process?

Defined by Dan in The Lean Product Playbook, the lean product process guides you through each layer of the pyramid from the bottom to the very top. The process is iterative and easy to follow.The six steps of the lean-product process will help you to find a product-market fit effectively. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Determine your target customer:

   Before you start the lean product process, ensure that you perform market segmentation to understand your target customer clearly. Market segmentation involves dividing the market into segments that consist of potential customers who have similar needs and behaviours.Your target customer will decide how well your product meets his or her needs. Define your target customer as well as possible so that everyone in your product development team knows who the product is for. You can do this well by creating user personas that describe your customer. You can start with a high-level hypothesis of the potential customer you have in mind and revise it as you tweak the features of your product while you iterate.

2. Identify underserved customer needs:

   Once you’ve created a customer persona, you now define their underserved needs. Identify the needs that may have a good market opportunity. You can start by addressing these inadequately met needs, and create additional value for your customers.

3. Define your value proposition:

   A value proposition is a plan that will drive product development to meet customer needs better than your product’s alternatives. In short, your value proposition is the essence of your product development strategy and will help you figure out features that will delight your customers and outperform the competition.

4. Specify your minimum viable product (MVP)  prototype:

   Your value proposition will also help you to specify and include this functionality in your MVP. This means that you will create a minimalistic product that your customers validate by accepting its viability. Hence, you build only what is needed to create adequate value for your target customers. 

5. Creating your minimum viable product prototype:

   Show your potential customers an early version of your product so you can use their feedback to iterate and improve the final product. You can use tools such as InVision to simulate user experience with interactivity. Tools like InVision will also help you obtain critical customer feedback.

6. Testing your minimum viable product with customers:

   You can use a short survey or a screener to solicit feedback from your customers. A screener will ensure that your research participants have the target customer attributes. Here’s what you can do:
   • Schedule one-on-one meetings with potential customers to test and then gather feedback. 
   • Ask questions during the test process to gather feedback, deep insights, and value. 
   • Avoid asking questions with a yes or no answer.
    

Once your tests are complete, interpret the feedback to identify similar patterns. This will help you to prioritize high-value customer concerns so that you can address them quickly. Once this process is complete, you can then refine the prototype to incorporate the required changes. Implementing this process at the outset will help product development teams use resources efficiently, and you can launch your product confidently—knowing that your customers will find your product valuable. Remember, lean startups follow the build-measure-learn loop to create effective MVPs and implementing the lean product process will help you create a leaner, more customer-oriented MVP faster. If your startup is struggling with how to find a product-market fit, we can help. At Volumetree, we’ve built 100+ products across 17+ industries for startups and entrepreneurs.We can help you find the right product-market fit, just like many of our clients, who have successfully transformed their MVPs into enterprise-grade products used by thousands of users every day.