One of the best and worst things about being in the social media space is dealing with how quickly it all changes. There are constant shifts with the current big social networks (ie what’s happening with Twitter), and then there are also smaller social networks constantly coming on board and fighting for space.

I usually join a new social network as soon as I find out about it, if for no other reason than to stake my claim on my name (I’m @rebeccacoleman on almost everything). One new network that’s been getting some buzz lately is Peach, but honestly, I haven’t been super impressed with it so far.

One new network I have been intrigued by is Anchor.fm.

Launched earlier this month, Anchor is billed as radio by the people, and takes advantage of a time when love of podcasts has never been higher.

If you’re like me, you probably listen to a ton of NPR podcasts: This American Life, Serial, Death, Sex and Money and Note to Self are just a few I subscribe to.

The problem is, you can’t “talk back” to these radio shows. Sure, you can email, tweet, FB, etc. You can even leave a voice memo. And that’s where Anchor  comes in. It’s kind of like exchanging voice memos with your friends, or Twitter with audio.

Here’s how Anchor works:

• Like any social network, you need to join it (in this case, it ties into your twitter account if you have one).
• Next, find some people to follow. You may find some friends here (especially if they are podcast-y. Hi, @RussLol), or you can do searches for keywords and hashtags in the same way you would on twitter.

• Once you’re following some people, you’ll have a stream of waves you can listen to. A wave is a 2-minute (max) audio recording. Usually people will share something they’ve learned, talk about themselves, or ask a question.
• You can reply to any of these yourself. By leaving your own wave. Reply waves are restricted to 1 minute or less.
• You can also create your own threads by creating your own waves. You can connect these waves to your Twitter account to amplify them.

All the social media early adopters seem to be here–which always makes it more interesting to me. Also, I have had very few issues with the UIX. When Periscope first launched, I had problems with it all the time, and I found it quite frustrating. I have had very few technical problems with Anchor so far. It’s nicely laid out and easy to follow.

Have a listen to this wave I started yesterday asking the question: why do you like Anchor?

Shoutout to @shanthomasbiz and @cindymillet8 for their insights.

If you want to check Anchor out, you can download it here (currently iPhone only), and be sure to find me @rebeccacoleman. If you’re on there already, let’s connect, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you think of it so far.

Read the launch article about Anchor on Medium.