The Voice, a New Frontier of 'Extimacy' on Instagram
Voice notes open up a new way of speaking and engaging with your community. And of touching a chord.
The answering machine, that magical recorder of our voices, gained popular success starting in 1984 in the United States. Laurence Bardin explained as early as 1985 for Réseaux the symbiotic relationship between users and the telephone:
"The most obvious function of the answering machine for its owners is to 'compensate for absence.' The answering machine acts as a super-phone in this sense, a kind of total phone allowing constant connection with others, a thread that is never cut, an umbilical cord always plugged in. 'Not losing anything' of potential communication, even in case of absence."
Laurence Bardin
In 2023, in an era where we are reachable everywhere, all the time, and where disconnecting from others has become less and less tolerable (risking giving the impression of "ghosting" someone), few people really use the answering machine. Sending a call to voicemail may also be a lever to regain control over who has access to our conversation time.
The function of "compensating for absence" is still very much present. How many of us save or archive the voicemail of a loved one who left too soon? Words thrown into the void of an answering machine, sometimes trivial, sometimes intense, which take on great importance when a person passes away. In fact, 50% of people who have lost a loved one hear their voice during the mourning period. This proves the importance of this feature in managing grief. If grief can be managed, that's another story.
As usual, "nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed" to paraphrase a famous formulation of Lavoisier's thinking. And voice notes - or voice messages - are exploding in usage. 17% of Gen Z send voice notes at least once a day according to GWI. The voice note format is fascinating for several reasons:
It requires the receiver or recipient to fully listen or pay attention, disconnected from an image. This creates a kind of bubble, conditions that can be emotionally very strong.
Asynchronous communication allows very free consumption for the receiver and a whole social game around voice notes: ultra-fast responses, "attacks" (in the mode of "pokes" in the heyday of Facebook) or, on the contrary, long waiting times, managing expectations, etc.
The sender can use the full power of their voice, offering many creative, striking opportunities.
As I wrote in my essay, ultimately, what happens in the user's mind matters, and the way to absorb content, signals, is as important as the signal itself:
"The same content and the same flow can play a different role, have a different utility and a strong impact depending on the space experienced by the user."
Voice notes began to explode in 2011 in China with WeChat, which early on sensed the potential of this communication. And Apple joined the game in 2014 with voice messages on iMessage.
This new - vocal - writing has seduced many content creators or other influencers since the launch of Instagram's broadcast channels a few months ago. For example, Léna Mahfouf launched her channel "entre nous 🌻" through which, in addition to announcements of new content, she shares her moods, desires, satisfactions. A real feeling of receiving a voice note from a friend.
On the side of the singer Angèle, it's through "gegele news 🎶" that she shares her daily life, reactions, intertwining it with more exclusive content, captured on the spot. Without real regularity but fully playing on proximity.
At Chriselle Lim's, voice notes play the role of introduction or presentation before longer content, a documentary, which fits well into the relatively recent staging of her divorce.
This complicity seems to work and allows many public figures to work closely with the most engaged fans, through this "extimate" space. A good way to convey a feeling, an ultra-personal, intimate point of view to a very large audience. And for subscribers, to experience at the very core of their beings this torrent of emotions sent by the influencer, despite being quite distant from their lives.