Podcasts have a tiny problem on social media: they’re not particularly convenient when you’re scrolling with your sound off. Thankfully, Threads may have a solution. The platform is testing a feature that automatically puts transcripts over podcast audio clips, allowing users to read along without ever turning their volume up.
Your podcast, now with subtitles
Threads head Connor Hayes showed off the experiment today, saying it’s one of several new tools the company is working on to help podcasters share their episodes. The feature appears to generate a transcript directly over an audio clip, with the words progressing as the speaker talks.
The example shared by Hayes shows a podcast clip with large, easy-to-read text layered over the video, meaning users can understand what’s being said even if they’re sitting somewhere they probably shouldn’t be blasting a podcast at full volume.
That’s a pretty sensible fit for Threads. The platform is already a text-heavy social network, so giving audio content a text layer makes podcasts feel considerably more native to the experience. And for creators, it potentially gives users another reason to stop scrolling when they encounter a podcast clip instead of simply swiping past an audio-heavy post.
Threads really wants podcasts to happen here
This also isn’t Threads randomly waking up one morning and deciding it likes podcasts. The platform has been increasingly courting audio creators, and its head of product says more podcast-sharing tools are in development. Threads has also grown to 500 million monthly active users, giving podcasters a rather large audience to potentially tap into.
There’s still a fairly large asterisk: this is only a test, and Threads hasn’t said when — or even if — the transcription feature will become widely available. But the idea makes a lot of sense. Podcasts are designed to be listened to; Threads is designed to be read. If Meta can make the two play nicely together, maybe your next podcast discovery won’t require you to turn your volume on in the middle of a crowded train.