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Windows Central

Technology

Kevin Okemwa

After Elon Musk and Trump's glitchy Spaces interview, X tests new video conferencing tool: "Already a strong alternative to Google Hangouts and certainly Microsoft Teams"

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What you need to know

X is testing a new video conferencing tool to compete with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and more.
The tool ships with many features, including pinning main speakers and participants, notifications when someone leaves a meeting, and more.
It's not yet clear when the tool will ship to general availability.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most organizations adopted hybrid work and the work-from-home approach to mitigate the further spread of the virus. Consequently, video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and more became crucial to foster effective and efficient communication within organizations.

Since then, most organizations adopted remote work as part of their broader plan to cut operational costs. And as it happens, X (formerly Twitter) is seemingly joining the fray. According to a report by the folks over at TechCrunch, X is testing a new video conferencing tool that could potentially rival key players in the category.

First ever 𝕏 Conference meeting with some of my great @X and @XDevelopers teammates.Already a really strong alternative to Google Hangouts, Zoom, AWS Chime, and certainly... Microsoft Teams 🤠Minimal feedback that is likely coming:- better vis or notification when someone… pic.twitter.com/FJ252w6m4CAugust 23, 2024

Chris Park, an employee at X, indicated that the company had started testing the video conferencing tool on the social media platform. Park touted the tool as "already a really strong alternative to Google Hangouts, Zoom, AWS Chime, and certainly... Microsoft Teams." Initial feedback from users with early access to the tool seems fairly positive. The tool is expected to ship with the features highlighted below:

Better visuals or notification when someone leaves or joins
Ability to pin main speakers or participants
Less back and forth change on main panel so I don't keep seeing my awesome face (or yours)

X owner Elon Musk responded to Park's post on X with a fire emoji, a potential indication that the tool is in development awaiting broad deployment. Users seized this opportunity to cite the platform's Spaces feature:

"I wish x spaces looked this cool, I hate that x spaces doesn't have a live chat or horizontal group video. But it's one of the underrated features on x."

Park responded to the comment, indicating that these changes will be implemented on Spaces soon. According to app researcher Nian Owiji, X's new video conferencing tool will allow hosts to create a unique code for each meeting that participants can use to join.

BREAKING: Each X Conference will have a unique code that you can share with people to let them join! pic.twitter.com/ZSOYb40QjHAugust 23, 2024

To this end, it remains unclear when X intends to ship the video conferencing tool to general availability. Details on whether X's Spaces feature or some of its elements are being integrated into the video conferencing tool remain slim, but it could be possible.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk and former US President Donald J. Trump had an interview on X's audio live-streaming feature, Spaces, to discuss politics and everything in between. However, the interview had a rocky start with users citing error messages, pitch silence, and blocked access to the live stream, accompanied by hold music.

Musk quickly shifted the blame to a DDoS (distributed denial of service) cyberattack, which delayed the interview by over 40 minutes.