After Amazon, Twitter also seems to be keen on enhancing the culture of podcasts as a wonderful means of entertainment and communication. While Amazon has recently acquired Wondery, Twitter has acquired the Breaker app which launched in 2016, almost the same time when Wondery was launched. The purpose of Breaker was to make people realize that podcasts are not just some audio-feeds that people can listen to and forget. Actually, these companies have made podcasts into proper shows Breaker started involving people by allowing them to communicate on the podcasts, share them with their friends, and comment on the episodes effectively and more organically.
Now, Twitter is also stepping into this world of podcasts. Twitter Spaces is meant for ‘audio-tweeting,’ and within it, now Twitter is looking to expand into episodic podcasts going live, letting the people leave audio comments on them, and a lot more.
Twitter believes that this acquisition of the Breaker app will help the company “improve the health of the public conversation.”
One important point to note here is that Twitter’s acquisition is not only to make a Twitter Podcast app of its own; rather it is more like a merger of brilliantly talented people, staff, and technology all coming together to do what they do best: Facilitate public conversation and improve their communication.
All the other companies like Amazon, Stitcher, etc. that are making such moves are basically trying to mark their own territories in the podcast world. So, this is where the difference lies between Twitter’s motives and the other companies.
The Breaker app is shutting down on 15th January 2021.
With the shutdown, some of the key members of the app’s team will be joining Twitter. The CEO Eric Berlin and CTO Leah Culver are amongst the ones to make this move.
Eric Berlin has said that they are impressed by Twitter’s missions to enhance and improve public communication, and this move aligns with Breaker’s motives too. Breaker has also been all about audio-communication and bringing people close to each other. So, this move from Breaker to Twitter is going to be quite an exciting and fruitful journey.
Twitter’s Engineering Lead Michael Montano has also confirmed about the Breaker team joining Twitter.
Apart from the CEO and CTO of Breaker, their designer Emma Lundin is also coming to Twitter now. Montano also praised the leaders of Breaker for their sporty spirits and extremely positive attitude towards this new move.
This is the only available information about this deal. The price and all the other details are not publicly known as yet.
Until 15th January 2021, the users of Breaker can export their OPML files to make a transfer to other podcasting apps and services.
Breaker’s leaders recommend their users to look into the apps like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and Castro to transfer their subscriptions. People who host their podcasts on Breaker can also transfer their files to any of the podcasting apps through the RSS feed.
Let us see how it all fares for Twitter because ensuring safety and content moderation of audio-networking space is going to be quite a challenge.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
