A new audio-driven social platform: Clubhouse
A new social media platform recently took the internet by storm thanks to Elon Musk’s special appearance on The Good Time Show, a roughly three-week-old late-night event hosted by the husband-and-wife team of Sriram Krishnan and Aarthi Ramamurthy.
Clubhouse which was launched mid last year has already hit US$1billion in valuation with venture capitalist scrambling to invest. If you’ve yet to hear about Clubhouse, no worries, we’re here to fill you in.
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is an audio-based social platform. You can enter rooms (or create a room) and hear or participate in discussions on topics. Room moderators can allow audiences with ‘raised hands’ to join in conversations.
All conversations are in real-time, and once a session has ended, there is no way of tuning back in to listen. In other words, the only way to listen in to any session is to tune in live. This is perhaps a key differentiator if compared to podcasts.
How is Clubhouse different from other social media platforms?
1. Audio Centric
Just as Instagram is driven visually and Twitter connects people in text format, Clubhouse now allows people to connect with one another through audio format. This is definitely a huge win for people who generally prefer consuming information in audio format.
With podcast and audiobook booming over the past few years, the introduction of Clubhouse nicely feels the gap for a audio social platform.
2. Long-Form Format
Unlike most social platform currently which encourages short-form content due to audience lack of attention span, Clubhouse suggests otherwise. Clubhouse encourages open conversations and discussions. Sessions tend to last upwards of 15 minutes to an hour.
3. Everything is Live
Lastly, Clubhouse is unique because the only way to engage its content is to participate live. There’s no scheduling of postings or sharing of pre-recorded podcast. Content is raw and unfiltered which makes it a more authentic way of connecting with people.
Who are the minds behind the app?
According to various tech news sources, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth are the founders and developers of this brilliant app. Prior to Clubhouse, Davison had notable success in 2011, creating Highlights, an app that allows you to discover people nearby. Highlights was later acquired by Pinterest in 2016.
A quick browse through Davison’s Linkedin profile also reveals that he has had an internship with the tech giant, Google. Needless to say, Paul Davison is an expert in the tech industry.
How do I download Clubhouse?
As we speak, Clubhouse is still in its Beta phase. With that said, the app is currently only available for Apple users. Nevertheless, an Android version should be available really soon.
In any case, Clubhouse is currently exclusive to people with invites only. To get an invite, you have to know someone who’s already on the app, and who has one to extend to you. Additionally, each new user is only granted 2 invites.
Nevertheless, Apple users can go ahead and download the app to reserve your desired username ahead of time. As Davison and Seth plan to grow the app gradually, we’ll just have to wait patiently for the app to become more accessible to all.
Final Thoughts
The future is bright for Clubhouse and there’s definitely a demand for such a social platform. We’re excited to see how Clubhouse will eventually shape and change the way we interact with one another over the web. We’re also excited to see how this success will eventually affect the smart device industry should there be an increasing demand for better mics and earphones.
