Quick facts about X (Twitter) Space you need to know

The recent events in the country have drawn the attention of Kenyans to X formerly known as X.

The young generation famously known as Gen Z has taken up social media to raise their voices and opinions.

A section of X influencers have been holding spaces to discuss, update and enlighten each other.

The Gen Zs have recently voiced their dissatisfaction with the Finance Bill and the current regime demanding accountability.

The Bill was criticised for its potential economic impact forcing President William Ruto to withdraw it after a wave of protests.

As they hosted the spaces, videos and screenshots of the spaces were making rounds on social media with many Kenyans questioning what application that was.

What is X space?

X has a a platform known as Space where live audio conversations take place.

Anyone can join, listen, and speak in a Space on X for iOS and Android. One can also listen in a space on the web.

How to use X Spaces

The creator of Space is the host. As a host, one can start a Space by long pressing on the post Composer from your Home timeline and then selecting the Spaces icon.

You can also start a Space by selecting the Spaces tab at the bottom of your timeline.

Spaces are public and anyone can join as a listener, including people who don’t follow you.

Listeners can be directly invited into a Space by DMing them a link to the Space, posting a link, or sharing a link elsewhere.

The Space can hold up to 13 people (including the host and 2 co-hosts) to speak at any given time.

When creating a new Space, one will see options to Name the Space and Start your Space.

Users can also schedule a Space by selecting schedule for later. They can choose the date and time they like their Space to go live.

Once the Space has started, the host can send requests to listeners to become co-hosts or speakers by selecting the people icon and adding co-hosts or speakers, or selecting a person’s profile picture within a Space and adding them as a co-host or speaker.

Listeners can request permission to speak from the host by selecting the Request icon below the microphone.

When creating a Space, the host will join with their mic off and be the only speaker in the Space. When ready they can select Start Your Space.

All Spaces are public-like posts, which means they can be accessed by anyone.

On June 22, President William Ruto briefly joined an X space which was discussing matters about his administration.

The X space was dubbed ” Good Morning Kenya: Where is Crazy Nairobian”.

The President joined shortly before exiting the space, eliciting reactions from Kenyans.

State House spokesperson Hussein Mohammed among other leaders also joined the space.

During a media roundtable at State House on June 30, the President agreed to Gen Z’s demand that the only environment they would be comfortable discussing their issues was Space on X.

“I promised that I would engage the young people through multi-sectoral forums. I also promised the topics that I wanted us to discuss, and I’m open. I have heard that they do not want a multisectoral forum, and maybe we should engage on X, and I’m open to talking with them on a forum they are comfortable with,” Ruto said.