Discord Highlights Debut of Social Audio Event Guide Stage Discovery With Month of Celebrities
Discord has launched the Stage Discovery tool for finding social audio live events on the Stage Channels created for that purpose. Stage Discovery is a search and exploration feature for the Stage Channels that helps creators reach more of their potential audience while making the events more visible to Discord users.
Discovering Stages
Discord’s Stage Channels are a variant of the standard social audio digital space, themed around events and shows rather than more casual conversations. The Stage Channels have been an option since March, but browsing for a Stage that might interest any particular individual meant looking through an unorganized throng of audio events or looking for information outside of Discord. The Discovery feature should be a boon for the creators and audiences who don’t know they are looking for each other, as explained in the video up top. Once the event creator is ready to open the Stage’s virtual doors, they can opt into making it public, adding the title and the details of the event, and ensuring its appearance on the feed of show titles, as demonstrated in the gif below. 
“Even for fearless social butterflies, the structured, focused nature of Stages offer up an excellent and undiluted dose of the community’s passion and energy to anyone who witnesses it, Discord explained in unveiling the Discovery. “These make Stages a uniquely easy and stress-free way to find places where you can belong.”
And Discord users playing around with Discovery don’t have to worry about being overwhelmed by seeing every single conversation happening on the platform scroll past their eyes. Only servers with more than 7,000 members become publicly visible. That fits with the vision of event producers putting on shows with celebrity hosts and guests, as otherwise, even the most famous names might get drowned in video game discussion. Those with fewer people on their server who want to draw more attention to their events will likely continue to rely on Discord server listing websites or other marketing approaches.
Loud Celebrations
The additions and improvements grow out of the significant redesign Discord began last year, especially with a major overhaul of its social audio aspect. Discord raised $100 million from Sony and other investors after a $7 billion valuation. The rumors that Microsoft would purchase the company for $10 billion have also appeared to have failed. The Sony partnership does appear to be working out since Discord partnered with Sony to bring the platform’s social interactions to the Sony PlayStation’s network. Discord’s social audio and text-based chat will augment Sony’s existing tools, and Sony is investing an undisclosed sum and taking a minority stake in Discord as part of the deal.
To highlight Stage Discovery and generally boost their social audio profile, Discord has scheduled some famous names for interviews, demonstrations and other shows. The lineup kicks off with MC Jin and Wyclef Jean performing June 4, followed by an unusual mixture ranging from a couple of contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race, some Fantasy Football experts, and Binging with Babish, a show about trying to make fictional food come to life. With Discovery operating, event planners may be feeling more confident in running a Stage Channel in a way that will actually bring in people who really want to be there.
“There’s nothing better than helping someone find a place where they feel welcome, energized, and empowered to explore the things they love,” Discord wrote. “You’ve already been using Stages to make that happen, and we’re excited to see how Stage Discovery will give individuals and communities more power to find each other than ever before.”
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