RIYADH: Podcasting platform Breaker has announced that its team is to become part of Twitter to apply its expertise to audio experiences at the one-to-many messaging service.
Details on the financial terms of the deal to acquire the people behind four-year-old Breaker, based in San Francisco, have not been revealed.
In a tweet, Breaker co-founder, Leah Culver, said: “I’m joining Twitter to help build @TwitterSpaces. While I’ll very much miss @breaker, I’m so excited to help create the future of audio conversations.”
Breaker co-founder, Erik Berlin, announced the acquisition in a blog post, saying he and Culver would help create new experiences for users at Twitter.
“Here at Breaker, we’re truly passionate about audio communication and we’re inspired by the ways Twitter is facilitating public conversations for people around the world,” he said.
The Breaker team is joining Twitter! We’re excited to be building the future of public conversations. Breaker will be shutting down on Jan 15, more info: https://t.co/l3n1ge4p87
— Breaker (@Breaker) January 4, 2021
Twitter engineering team leader, Michael Montano, confirmed the link-up in a tweet and said that Culver, Berlin, and Breaker designer Emma Lundin were joining the company. “I’m excited to work with the Breaker team,” he added.
Breaker apps for smartphones powered by Apple or Google-backed Android software allow users to find and listen to podcasts.
Berlin said: “When we started Breaker, podcast apps were productivity apps, similar to feed readers and to-do lists. Breaker added a social community element with features such as liking and commenting on episodes.”
Breaker will shut down its platform on Jan. 15, allowing time for users to move podcasts and subscriptions to new forums for listening.
Twitter recently began letting a “very small” group of users create Spaces, which it described as online venues “built around the voices of the people using Twitter.”
As many as 10 people can be invited to speak in a Twitter Space, and there is no limit on the number of people who can just listen, according to a blog post about the project.
In the post, Twitter said: “This is your space to share thoughts, send emojis, and more. We will expand the list of people who can create Spaces over time.”
