Slack announces Huddles, new audio and video features

Slack is launching a new feature called Huddles which lets users and team members communicate with each other in audio chatrooms.

The company announced the feature along with several others on 30 June.

Slack said Huddles will improve communication between team users and cut down the need for formal meetings and schedules.

“Digital-first means encouraging people to work when and where is best for them,” it said in a statement.

“It doesn’t mean just taking the old ways of working—rigid 9-to-5 workdays packed with countless meetings—and re-creating them online. It requires a virtual headquarters that supports all ways of working: synchronous and asynchronous, in-person and remote, structured and informal.”

As well as Huddles, Slack is rolling out a new way for users to create and share video, voice, and screen recordings.

Users can share a recording in channels. Other users can watch or listen to the content, change the playback speed, or read through transcripts of the content.

The recordings also feature live captioning and users can schedule when to post them.

Slack archives any recordings made and users can search for them and their transcriptions.

Huddles and Slack’s new recording features will become available on paid subscription accounts in the coming months.

How to use Huddles on Slack

You can start a Huddle in any channel or Direct Messaging. You can enable one in the bottom left corner of the screen.

From there, users can choose whether to mute their microphone or share their computer screen with other users. You can also let users from other teams in companies join the Huddle.

All users in the team can enter and exit the Huddle as they please.

Featured image: Unsplash/Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk

Read more: How to change and display your pronouns in Zoom