Audio-based and video-based social experiences in a networked media playback system

A non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a video communication device to:

• receive, from a computing platform via a wide area network (WAN), a composite stream including video content and audio content corresponding to a video call;
• render (i) the video content via at least one graphical display and (ii) the audio content via at least one speaker;
• while rendering (i) the video content and (ii) the audio content, determine that a user of the video communication device is located more closely to an audio playback device than to the video communication device, wherein the audio playback device is connected to the video communication device via a local area network (LAN);
• and
• based on determining that the user is located more closely to the audio playback device than to the video communication device:
• continue rendering the video content;
• discontinue rendering the audio content;
• transmit a request to the computing platform to thereby cause the computing platform to switch from (a) transmitting the composite stream including the video content and the audio content to the video communication device to (b) transmitting a first stream and a second stream to the video communication device, wherein the first stream includes the video content and the second stream includes the audio content;
• and
• transmit the audio content in the second stream to the audio playback device via the LAN such that the audio playback device renders the audio content while the video communication device renders the video content.

A method carried out by a video communication device, the method comprising:

• receiving, from a computing platform via a wide area network (WAN), a composite stream including video content and audio content corresponding to a video call;
• rendering (i) the video content via at least one graphical display and (ii) the audio content via at least one speaker;
• while rendering (i) the video content and (ii) the audio content, determining that a user of the video communication device is located more closely to an audio playback device than to the video communication device, wherein the audio playback device is connected to the video communication device via a local area network (LAN);
• and
• based on determining that the user is located more closely to the audio playback device than to the video communication device:
• continuing rendering of the video content;
• discontinuing rendering of the audio content;
• transmitting a request to the computing platform and thereby causing the computing platform to switch from (a) transmitting the composite stream including the video content and the audio content to the video communication device to (b) transmitting a first stream and a second stream to the video communication device, wherein the first stream includes the video content and the second stream includes the audio content;
• and
• transmitting the audio content in the second stream to the audio playback device via the LAN such that the audio playback device renders the audio content while the video communication device renders the video content.