You have likely heard of the Clubhouse app making waves which allows members to create rooms and have conversations. Clubhouse is the invite-only voice social media platform everyone is talking about.
Launched in April 2020, this app is what is trending and making headlines on other social media platforms and sites, where everyone has utterly displayed their inquisitiveness and readiness to become a user. Created only last year, by a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Paul Davison and former Google engineer, Rohan Seth, Clubhouse has already gathered millions of fans and enthusiasts who want to be part of this novel app. Popular for its exclusive nature, according to Vogue, Clubhouse already had 3,500 users by May 2020 but its users have already risen to over 600,000 this year. And unsurprisingly, a good number of known personalities and celebrities are already using this app.
What is Clubhouse?
It is an audio-based invitation-only social media app that allows users all over the world to drop-in on conversations of assorted focuses. Once invited, this app allows you to invite only one new user to the platform. Once a member, users have the freedom to join, leave, or rejoin rooms.
On the webpage, users have a long discussion to explore and can choose to participate in virtual rooms, chatting about ANYTHING, be it music, arts, sports, etc.
Why all the rage?
You may be wondering why this new social media voice app is the hottest thing since 2020, trending all over platforms like Twitter. Why has this level of craze been spread with more and more people hoping to join? There have been other preceding social media apps ranging from Facebook to Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and so on which have been making waves, so why the obsession? What makes this app so unique that it has already garnered fans around the globe?
The answer lies in its exclusive nature as we mentioned previously somewhere in this article. Exclusivity is the main key feature of Clubhouse that sets it apart from other social media networks. That is to say, it is only open to users who have been invited by another user of the app. Kinda snobbish but that is what makes it even more appealing and interesting. This has left a majority of the younger generation passionate about being invited and partaking in discussions of hot and trending topics. Everyone wants to join; they don’t want to be left out in the pleasure.
An extra alluring reason why Clubhouse is all the buzz is that, unlike other social media platforms, you do not have to stay in the app once you have joined a room. This is the feature that allows users to multitask, you could stay in a group, listen to the conversations while still going about your regular routines.
What is even more attractive about this app is that it imitates interactions that happen in real life. However, recording a discussion is forbidden, and to protect these conversations that take place in Clubhouse, all are erased after a live chat is ended.
How does it work?
Since it is invite-only, you must be invited before you can join. Once you become a member of Clubhouse, you immediately have access to join in on any chat room of your choice, which appears when live and disappears when the chat comes to an end. All users see the speakers and listeners in the same chat room with them.
There are many discussions ranging from topics like music, films, fashion, culture, sports, a talent show, and more, conversations, debates, lectures, and others and they are all audio-based. You could follow a user when you click on the profile page and following them.
In these rooms, there is always a moderator who initiated the conversation. He or she is the main speaker and he or she has the authority to add a participant as a speaker, remove the speaker, or mute the speaker. The moderator can also appoint other participants as moderators.
Apart from the moderator, there is the listener. All you can do as a listener is LISTEN. However, you could opt to contribute to the conversation as a speaker, that way, you would be invited to a virtual stage where participants can contribute. This can only be achieved if the participant raises his hand, the moderator can then make the choice of giving you the freedom to speak. BUT! If the topic of the room disinterests you, you could easily leave as well.
Alternatively, you could create your own room and start up your own conversation where other users could join, listen, and maybe contribute. Don’t get it twisted, no, not everyone can jump into your conversation if you don’t want them to. That is why there is an option that allows you to lock or private your conversations so that you could only have discussions with your circle of friends or colleagues or students.
How can you join Clubhouse?
Clubhouse site stated, “Hey, we’re still in private beta but we are working hard to open things up soon!”. This means that as of now, it only has a beta version and it is not yet open to the public. They assured in their site that “we are building Clubhouse for everyone and working to make it available to the world as quickly as possible”
However, you can still join Clubhouse only if you are invited. For now, the app is only available to iPhone users, and as stated on the Clubhouse site “You can download the app to reserve your username and join our waitlist.”
So while you are on the waitlist, you can be invited by close friends or family members who were already users of the app. When you are invited to use the app, you get to invite another person. You may further be allowed to invite more users into the app after you may have used the app a few times, creating rooms and creating conversations.
Apart from meeting new people, the platform also offers many other advantages from networking opportunities to learning and sharing new ideas, being part, and contributing to a discussion.
However, the platform is also crowded with controversy which we may call its disadvantages. It has received heavy criticisms over its failure to restrain users who violate the guidelines, accurately moderate the rooms, prevent harassment, and stop impersonations. But Clubhouse has since responded to these reproaches and has promised to create a suitable environment where users would be free from all the above deficiencies.
But still, these failures on the part of Clubhouse have not deterred much of the general public as a majority of it are waiting patiently for the app to become open to the public.
What do you think about Clubhouse? Loving it or simply indifferent? Let us know in the comments!