Clubhouse says goodbye to invite-only and welcomes all users

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We’ve been waiting for a new update from Clubhouse for a long time, and it’s finally here. Clubhouse has declared that it would no longer host exclusive parties as the number of new users drops. Anyone who wants to join a club and listen to the most recent audio talks can do so today with this freshly redesigned app. For the occasion, a gleaming new logo has been created for the audio social media platform.

More news from Clubhouse, including the extension of their Creators First Program to include Brazilian creators.

The restricted, invite-only nature of Clubhouse contributed greatly to the initial buzz. Clubhouse invitations became somewhat of an internet status symbol, with some even fetching extravagant prices on eBay. However, when Elon Musk joined a Clubhouse discussion, the app’s exclusivity was effectively broken as people flocked to speak with the well-known figure.

Things haven’t been going well since Elon Musk followers rushed onto the app, causing it to become overwhelmed. Shortly after, Twitter introduced Spaces, a Clubhouse clone, and others quickly followed with their own social features to cash in on the hype. After many more similar apps Clubhouse has been mostly replaced by newer, more open, and accessible audio options.

More to come for Clubhouse 

Clubhouse continues to grow with each new development. This is partly owing to the fact that the app was released for Android devices in May. Thanks to this update, which has enabled more people in more regions to join, the app has generated significant buzz in India, where the vast majority of its new users are now based.

The idea is for this new feature to revive the app’s early enthusiasm. It also competes with Twitter Spaces and Facebook’s expanding social audio offerings. Clubhouse is ecstatic about this new venture and is looking forward to developing something truly unique on the web. Unfortunately, they may need more than hope to get users to return to the app. The fact that everyone can now participate is, nevertheless, a big step forward.

Learn more about Clubhouse’s rivals, including Facebook’s entry towards an audio-focused feature.

Clubhouse now employs 58 people, up from 8 previously. Not only that, but the number of daily rooms on the platform has climbed from 50,000 to half a million. The average Clubhouse listener spends over an hour every day on the station. Users do more than just listen; in fact, a large percentage of them speak as well. This is a great foundation with a lot of room for growth, especially if they want to gain traction among already established platforms. Clubhouse will need to ensure that it can keep up with the increasing volume of users as a result of this new shift, as servers may become clogged with rubbish and random broadcasts.

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Clubhouse Expands ‘Creator First’ Funding Program to Brazilian Creators

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Despite a decline in downloads in the US, Clubhouse has continued to expand in other parts of the world. The launch of its Android app last month opened up new opportunities for this audio-based platform which is gaining traction in other areas, in a number of important regions.

India and Brazil are two of the world’s most populous countries, with Android as the most widely used operating system. To take advantage of this fact, Clubhouse is rapidly expanding its innovative funding and training program. The Creator First program will give these countries’ creators more opportunities.

More information about the audio-focused social media platform, Clubhouse can be found here.

Last week, Clubhouse announced the launch of Creator First India, and now Brazil will get its own version of the program.

https://twitter.com/Clubhouse/status/1408089262596059139?s=20

Aspiring moderators, hosts, and creators will receive direct help from the platform in terms of production and creative development, as well as advertising for their shows. Not only that but financial aid is provided in the shape of brand matching or a monthly allowance.

People who enroll in the scheme will also receive a guaranteed monthly income of at least $5,000 dollars. Clubhouse hasn’t released any official data, but it doesn’t appear to be acquiring Brazilian users. Last week, Clubhouse changed its app symbol to a picture of Brazilian @dandarapagu.

Brazilian Clubhouse members have emerged as some of the most extraordinary, innovative, and entertaining people on the planet, according to Clubhouse. With 92% of adult Brazilians using a smartphone and a population of 214 million, it’s only natural for Clubhouse to focus on Brazil. Not only that, but expanding consumption in Brazil will help the company maintain its momentum. Even though Twitter and Facebook now have their own audio networking alternatives, they can still maintain.

However, whether this type of funding is a realistic means of gaining traction and retaining viewers remains to be seen. Clubhouse, on the other hand, is trying everything it can to break into the social scene.

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TWITTER WORKING ON NEW ‘SPACES’ FEATURES AND TAKING ON FACEBOOK GROUPS

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Will Twitter Spaces gradually replace Clubhouse and restrict its popularity? We will soon see as Twitter is hard at work developing Spaces, the new platform to join the trend of audio-focused social media platforms.

Twitter has demonstrated their commitment to making this new platform a force to be reckoned with by expanding Spaces’ scope to users and adding plenty of new features. The newest function is a scheduling concept that will give you more options when hosting and handling your audio. Users will be able to schedule any upcoming Spaces. And once scheduled, they will be able to alert their followers with a tweet. This tweet will provide a link to your upcoming event for those interested in attending; from this link, a reminder can be sent to those in your audience so they don’t miss out.

Not only that, but Twitter is now working on Space Discovery. Clubhouse, unfortunately for Twitter, has already beaten them to the punch with this concept. Clubhouse allows its members to switch between rooms at any time to find new discussions to explore. Twitter currently makes it difficult to locate live Spaces, although it is experimenting with new ways to overcome this barrier. In addition, Twitter is developing new Space title options to give users more power over their Space. All of these new features, like Spaces, are still in the testing process. But the ever-expanding audio-focused aspect will force Twitter to move swiftly in order to compete with new contenders like Clubhouse.

What else is new?

In terms of scope, Twitter defeated Clubhouse 1-0. Clubhouse users must develop an entirely new community from scratch, while Twitter users can use their current followers to build their audio-focused platform. Might Twitter’s mass audience be a double-edged sword? Will the quality of their rooms be a concern with such a large number of members in the Spaces and no limit on the number of members in a room? Unlike Clubhouse, which only allows exclusive users by invitation. This could impact the algorithm’s accuracy in matching users to rooms that are meaningful to them.

Twitter is not only developing their new Spaces app, but they are also expanding their original platform with new features. To compete with Facebook Groups, the Twitter team has built Communities. Users may join these communities and connect with other members based on a variety of factors, including hobbies and location. This new feature builds on their existing topics feature, making it easier for users to find discussions that are important to topics they care about. Twitter has also created Super Follows, which allows users to be super followers of their favourite accounts, to compete with Twitch and Patreon. Users can gain access to exclusive material, such as newsletters and super follower-only conversations, by using this super follower label.

We can clearly see Twitter’s commitment to dominating and maintaining user loyalty, as well as competing with Facebook and Clubhouse. While social networks like Clubhouse are still evolving, given Twitter’s pace of growth and benefits like audience outreach, they have the potential to become a significant player in the audio industry.

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FACEBOOK BEGINS DEVELOPMENT OF CLUBHOUSE CLONE AS THE APP CONTINUES TO GAIN NEW FANS

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There’s been a lot of buzz about Clubhouse, the newest social networking app. The site went from 600,000 users to a total of 2 million users within 4 weeks due to a sudden boost of followers and the success of Clubhouse became the talk of the town.

Other social networking networks are adding similar features to their own pages to compete with this unique app. Now, the growing list of platforms seeking inspiration from Clubhouse can include Facebook.

Facebook is planning to reap significant benefits by developing its own edition due to the extremely huge interest in Clubhouse. Due to the current 2.8 billion Facebook users who will soon have access to an audio-focused platform that needs no invitation, Clubhouse may find that they have some competition.

“We’ve been connecting people through audio and video technologies for many years and are always exploring new ways to improve that experience for people”

Emilie Haskell, a Facebook spokeswoman

What could this mean for Clubhouse?

In truth, for Clubhouse, the simplicity of an audio-focused platform may be a double-edged sword.  Attractive features of this platform include the flexibility of the platform and simple movement from one virtual room to another. This simplicity, however, contributes to rapid replication of the platform by popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter. While Clubhouse is growing steadily, it still has a long way to go to match the big players such as Facebook. This might lead Clubhouse to uncertain waters ahead, as Facebook users could still be loyal to this familiar platform.

This is not the first time that Facebook has repeated the success of other sites and it will certainly not be the last. After acquiring Instagram, Facebook implemented Instagram Stories. Snapchat Stories inspired this broadly popular feature. Facebook was unable to purchase Snapchat or their idea, so their own concept was created. Consequently, without stories, Instagram or Facebook would now be hard to imagine. More recently, another social network, TikTok, has also inspired Instagram. To remain important to its users, Instagram developed its own ‘Reels’ feature as TikTok has become a very popular entertainment app.

The collection of innovative features offered by Facebook could soon be expanded to include an audio-focused platform. What will they come up with next? Could the Facebook version have the upper hand, or will Clubhouse come out on top? It’s just a matter of waiting before we can see this feature on Facebook.

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CLUBHOUSE: THE INVITE-ONLY AUDIO APP EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

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What is Clubhouse, and why haven’t we used it yet? That is probably the discussion being had in marketing and digital departments around the world as you read this.

From Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg, it is the social app of 2021 as audio becomes the newest way in which to engage with your fellow humans in a time when face-to-face conversations are something we can only hope to do in the near future.

It’s not only exploding in the UK and US either, around the world it is becoming the most discussed app of 2021 with Brazil, India and many other countries getting very excited about it’s possibilities.

The new new social media site that has built its credibility on not only being voice-only but also its exclusivity. So exclusive in fact, you can only access this new platform by invitation and it’s also currently only available on iOS. However, this invitation-only policy could soon be reversed after it raised $340m in a new round of funding, so expect to see it on Android pretty soon.

As of May 2020, this innovative new site had a mere 1,500 users but still had an value of an astounding $100 million. Fast forward to February 2021, it now has 2 million users with an approximate value of $1 billion!

So, what is Clubhouse? 

Clubhouse is recognised as a social networking app focused on audio. It helps you to switch to various chats based on different topics. It acts like a live, free-flowing broadcast for its users. Allowing you to listen to other users or talk to the world about your thoughts. The opportunity to socialise and meet new people, similar to a party, prompted them to come up with the name Clubhouse.

A new type of social product based on voice [that] allows people everywhere to talk, tell stories, develop ideas, deepen friendships, and meet interesting new people around the world.

Clubhouse

This app is described as being somewhere between a podcast and a radio talk show. It helps people to build conversations, panel discussions, and even conferences on any topic they desire – something that is ruffling feathers in China as they rushed to shut down access to it after rooms were set up to talk about Taiwan and other no go areas.

This social networking app is changing the conventions of social media platforms, so much so that the word ‘influencer’ is slowly transforming to ‘moderator’. Another interesting and common feature of this app is its multi-room system that allows you to lock or unlock chats. This guarantees privacy for all users when needed and ensures that discussions are not documented.

How do I join?

You can’t currently join the app without an invitation from a registered user. However, the company is said to further grow the app in order to make it available to the public. We may be waiting for this creation for a while, as they want to continue building up a loyal audience. The organisation will also develop the platform to facilitate a large rise in users when the application is open to everyone.

We are building Clubhouse for everyone and working to make it available to the world as quickly as possible

Clubhouse

  Can it be the next big platform for sports? 

Clubhouse has a wide range of formats that users can enjoy. There is, for example, a ‘fireside chat’ style. This helps people to be interviewed, much like a meeting. As well as panels, more participants will be able to answer questions. But it’s also a chance to get involved.

Having started to test it out you initially might want to sit there and listen to what the experts are talking about, as you do on a podcast. But you do need to be prepared to get involved, especially in smaller rooms. It is a bringing together of people with the same interests, and then talking about it for an hour or more with lots of opinions and questions coming from many different sources.

This will be a perfect opportunity for broadcasters, influencers and journalists in the sports industry. This format could be used to gain insight behind the scenes, pre-game or after game chats and interactions with ex-players. The prospects for the sports media industry are infinite. It adds value to the application for sports fans as they can gain more information and build a forum to discuss and exchange views with real players and other users.

The application’s easy to find, freely accessible sessions and chats make it the perfect place to start sporting communities. Particularly after almost a year of self-isolation and lockdowns, we are constantly trying to connect across social media to entertain and interact with others. Whether you want to create a room to discuss a certain team, player or even talk ticket dates you can find others and ask questions via Clubhouse. 

There are so many chances for people in the media to claim. While sports fans will benefit a lot from this app, sports clubs might wait to see how they could benefit from the app and whether it could become a source of revenue.

But one team who has taken a small leap onto Clubhouse is Brazilian team Athletico Paranaense, who will allow fans to follow their game against Corinthians (10th Feb) through the app. It’s perhaps not the most engaging way to use the app, but it’s a step into a new realm to test it out and then decide if they want to do more.

The application is new and we are likely to see several developments in its design. Perhaps the application could consider allowing users to buy tickets for matches in order to inspire clubs to engage in this platform. Due to the unlimited advancements, I’m sure we’ll hear a lot from Clubhouse in the coming months.

It certainly looks like it will take on TikTok’s mantle of being the social platform of the year, but the bigger players are already making their own moves. Twitter had already started to test out Spaces last year and that programme will now be accelerated. Twitter feels like the right platform to do this as it has always been built around news, reaction and opinion (not all of it healthy) and it will be another part of the app that will be worth testing out, and may well suit the sports clubs and leagues better.

Enjoy testing it out!

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