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14 Comments

Twitter continues audio expansion, acquires Breaker

  1. 14

    Not a happy end for Breaker. I did YC with Leah exactly 10 years ago, in January 2011. Back then Twitter "acquired" lots of failed startups from our batch. Looks like they're still doing it.

    It would've been nice if Breaker wasn't so beholden to get VC returns. I think their usage was good enough that they could've easily made a healthy profit with a decent business model. Pocket Casts makes millions and doesn't have any funding, I believe.

    I also hate it when these podcast player shut downs happen, because I lose subscribers to the IH podcast. Sad to say it, but it makes me wish more people used the bigger players that are going to stick around.

    It's also a shame because I liked Breaker's vision. It's nuts to me that it's 2021 and podcasts still aren't social. In the early days, often the only feedback I'd get on an episode were some random comments on Breaker.

    1. 1

      I guess, the “ vision part” might be why the acquisition is good for Breaker?! I mean, combining podcast and social features is a headache. Podcasts are a passive medium and people listening are usually in passive mode - doing something else while consuming podcasts. And social interacting takes work.
      Breaker suffers from low social activity intended as defined by user- generated content, excluding comments bookmarking episodes for personal use. Joining Twitter and benefitting from its network effects can help bring their vision to life.

  2. 14

    What will this will bring? 🤷🏻‍♀️

    TL;DR

    • Twitter acquired the podcast app Breaker
    • the team will be joining Twitter
    • Breaker will be shutting down on January 15th (that's quick! 💨)

    There's an obvious move towards audio, with the likes of Clubhouse and the beta testing of Twitter Audio Spaces

    If it means that we can bring indie hackers together via Twitter Audio Spaces, then I'm game. I'd much prefer to use Twitter over Clubhouse. 😇

    1. 2

      Damn. This was one of my favorite apps

    2. 1

      This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

      1. 2

        Twitter is more open, and I also use Twitter every day. I trust Twitter enough, and I still don't feel great using Clubhouse.

        1. 1

          and Clubhouse is only for ios

  3. 2

    Shit! That was my fav podcast app. I got so much learning and research done w/ this app. F@%K!

    1. 2

      Oh yea? What were your favorite features?

      1. 2

        @schoon the playlist... I would use it to segment shows and episode by customers, topics, interests, business goals & roadmaps I was pursuing.

        I was somewhat creating a library or treating it like Pocket for the important but not urgent content too.

    2. 1

      I second @schoon's question. What did you find so valuable about it?

      1. 2

        @csallen Along with using the playlist as a segmentation tool, I enjoy the social discovery feature too. I found new people & resources to follow. It was nice to learn how people tick by learning their listening preferences or hearing their comments.

      2. 2

        For me, the only reason I used Breaker was the exact match searching for podcasts - used it to find interviews with people or companies I'd be interviewing with. But then I'd still find the exact podcast/episode using Pocket Casts because UX for Breaker on Android isn't great.

  4. 1

    Tappy🚀 We are in the simular space. "Discord for businesses vicegamers."

  5. 1

    Twitter and their "I want to build Clubhouse but on Twitter"
    This makes total sense!

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