X Spaces: Guide to Using Twitter Spaces

X Spaces, previously known as Twitter Spaces, is a feature that allows you to have a live audio conversation on the platform. This feature is available on both mobile and desktop versions. However, there are different capabilities on the different devices:

✅ Users on an iOS orAndroid can join, listen, and participate in X Spaces.

✅ Users on the desktop version can only listen in to a Space.

So, how can you use this platform and is it a good idea for your brand? Let’s keep reading.

💡 What can you use Twitter Spaces for?

Spaces allows you to connect with X users in a different way. You can create a live podcast on a topic, hold a debate, or open a space to speak with your followers or other users.

What Are X Spaces?

This is actually a feature that has been around since 2020, but has made some more recent noise. X Spaces are a place that any user can host, listen, and share. Recently, Musk has added some new capabilities to the feature, encouraging users to host audio conversations online.

The person who creates the Space is the host, and can invite up to 2 co-hosts, and up to 10 people can have speaking privileges at the same time.

How to Join Spaces

Spaces are public, and can be joined by any user on the network, regardless of if they follow you or not.

How to Join X Spaces on Mobile:

When entering the X mobile app, you will see the Spaces tab on the left side menu, that appears if you click on your profile image in the top left corner. This is where you can view which Spaces are happening now, trending Spaces, and upcoming Spaces to mark in your calendar. You can also view Spaces that are live inside your main timeline.

When selecting a space, you will see the title and the main topics of that Space. It will also show you the hosts, co-hosts, and any other speakers at the top, and show you how many people are listening live at the bottom.

Listeners have the ability to interact in the Space, with the following options:

How to Join X Spaces on a Desktop:

It get’s a little trickier to find on the desktop version, because you can’t create or host a Space from the website version. However, if you have a link to the Space, you can listen in on your computer. But where can you get this link? It’s actually pretty simple. When you enter a Space, there is a Share option in top right corner. From here you have the following options:

• Invite via DM
• Share via post
• Copy link
• Share via…

Anyone with the link to the Space can join.

How to Host a Space

Now that you know how this feature works and where to find it, let’s see what the steps look like to create and host your own Space. Also, you can only host a Space from the mobile app.

When you are inside the X mobile app, head to the Spaces tab. In the bottom right corner you will see a microphone icon with a “+” next to it. Clicking on this will open the page to create your Space. Make sure to toggle on the Allow mic access option, so you can participate and host Spaces.

Then from here you need to fill out the following and choose how you want to set up your Space:

• Title: What will you be talking about?
• Topics: Select up to 3 topics related to your Space.
• Record Space: Toggle this option on or off, depending if you want this Space to be recorded.
• Start now or schedule: You have the option to either start the Space immediately, or schedule for a later date.

You can schedule up to 10 Spaces, up to 30 days in advance. Once this has been scheduled, you can edit and view your scheduled Spaces by clicking on the calendar icon at the top of the main Spaces page. Users can sign up for Spaces, and set up notification reminders to alert them when the Space goes live.

Who can speak in a Space?

Hosts, co-hosts, and speakers can all speak in a Space. The host can control who speaks in the Space, and has the ability to remove users from your Space.

By default, the network set the speaker privileges to only those that have been invited to speak. However, the host can modify the Speaker permissions and open this to either Everyone, People you follow, or Only people you invite to speak.

Hosts are allowed to add new speakers and co-hosts as the conversation continues, and listeners are also allowed to send requests to speak.

How do I invite people to a Space?

Each Space will be given a link, which you can share via DMs, posting the link as a post, texting it, sharing it across other social media platforms, etc. Anyone with the link can join the Space.

Can I record and download a Space?

When creating a Space, you have the option to record the Space. A recording symbol will appear in the top right corner indicating that the Space is being recorded.

After the Space has ended, under Notifications you can View details to post the recording. Hosts also have the option to Edit start time, and change where the recording begins. The recording is live for anyone to listen, unless the hosts deletes the recording.

How do you end a Space?

The host has the capability of ending the Space, or the Space can be automatically ended if it violates any of X’s community guidelines.

Community Spaces

X has also expanded Spaces into the Community section. Admins and moderators of a Community can create new Spaces, by clicking on the post Composer + and then selecting the Spaces icon. From here the steps are the same to create a Space.

Community members are able to join a Community Space, and will be notified when an admin or moderator creates a Space. If there is a Space live, members can see this in the Spacebar at the top of the Home timeline.

Now you’re completely ready for when the time comes to start your own audio room on Twitter Spaces.

Stay tuned on our social media profiles to find out when Twitter activates this feature for all users.

Anniston Ward , 01 December 2023