These podcast features help Spotify listeners engage with the podcasters
According to Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, the main point behind these new features is for podcasters to engage more with their audiences and gather feedback. If creators want input about future episodes, topics, guests, or other suggestions, they will have a more efficient means of collecting it. For the time being, these features won’t be available for all of the podcast listeners on the platform. Only people who listen to podcasts through Anchor will be able to enjoy them. The company is still in the testing phase, so the it’s trying to see how this all goes. Also, people who like to use Spotify on their computers will be out of luck, as these new features are only available on the Android and iOS apps. If they pick up steam, the company may add these features to the desktop version, but there’s no way of telling at this point.
First, there’s a Q&A function
Q&As will appear on the bottom of the podcast page where people can interact with them. They can be answered during the podcast or after, and the answers themselves are sent to the creator privately. Retaining anonymity is mostly to keep users from harassing other users based on their answers, There is a feature where the podcast creators can make a response public and pin it next to a user’s username. The app will display these directly under the question.
Lastly, we have user polls
Opinion polls seem to be one of the more popular means of gathering audience feedback. Services like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitch have a poll system. Now, Spotify added polls to its list of podcast features. Just like with the Q&As, polls will be on the bottom of the podcast page. Unlike the Q&As, Polls’ responses will be made public automatically. When a user taps on an option, the poll will reveal the percentages of each one. Spotify has been doing a lot of expanding this year with its Car Thing, letting people personalize playlist recommendations, and just being the most popular music streaming platform. The company is looking to be the top platform that offers podcasts, as well.
