Facebook introduces Hotline, a Q&A web-based application

Hotline, a web-based application for conducting Q&A live session launched by Facebook is a mashup of Clubhouse and Instagram.

Recently, the NPE Team of Facebook launched its latest experiment, Hotline, into the public domain for beta testing. Hotline, the web-based application, seems to be a mashup of apps like Clubhouse and Instagram. It is considered an amalgamation of both apps as it allows the creators to speak to their audience, who can then ask the creator questions in either text or audio form. The web-based application allows the creator to have a live video session instead of being an audio-only session like Clubhouse.

Hotline is being led by Eric Hazzard, who is also the mastermind of the Facebook acquired Q&A app, tbh. With the introduction of Hotline, Eric Hazard is once again developing a product that is applicable in the Q&A space of Facebook.

Though the new app, Hotline is seeking inspiration from apps like Clubhouse and Instagram still has several differences addressed. For example, one can witness the speaker's section at the top on the mobile or on the left side of the desktop, where the event host is featured in a round profile icon during the live stream. At the bottom, on the mobile or to the side on the desktop, one can witness the event's listeners list.

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There are several more differences like the event listeners' section is divided between people who are just watching the event and the ones who are asking the questions. The app also allows users to sign in with Twitter in order to verify their identity. During the session, the creator is presented with the list of questions that the audience has asked. The questions can be upvote and downvote accordingly by others during the session.

The web-based application also allows the creator to pick and choose the question they want to answer next and can even pull the respective listener who had asked the question onto the stage area to have the conversation directly. As stated above, the session can either be an audio-only session or also can be turned into a video session.

The host of the session will have full control over the session and can choose to remove any person or questions that are inappropriate and violating Facebook's Community guidelines. Hotline also offers the users emojis like clapping hands, fire, heart, thumbs up, laughter, and surprise to react when the questions are asked.

One of the major activities of the Hotline is that it produces saved recordings at the end of the session which can be used by the creator to post on other different platforms.

Nick Huber, the real estate investor was the first one to publicly try out the product with Livestream. At the launch of the app, anyone was allowed to join the session for free and there was no limit to the audience size. Though, this is expected to change as the experiment progresses in near future.