Is the Clubhouse App Living up to the Hype?

After its inception more than a year ago, the clubhouse app fever has been spreading like wildfire.

And that is despite being a super exclusive app that will only let users in through direct invitation. That’s right. In order to even download this iOS-exclusive app, you will need to have a friend who’s already in, and you better be best pals because users only get a grand total of 2 invites.

However, that hasn’t stopped people to do anything in their power, even buy Clubhouse invites, to get in.

That proves that if something piques the interest of enough people, they will do almost ANYTHING to be part of it.

But what makes Clubhouse so special?

Like a friend of mine said: Clubhouse is pretty much like getting into the now outdated Ham Radio subculture. The difference is that you don’t have to build or buy a bulky radio transmitter, nor pass a test to get a license to start broadcasting.

As you can see, the entering threshold is way lower, the reach radius is unlimited and the audience is WAY more interesting (sorry radio gang!).

What made this app so incredibly popular was the kind of people you could find rubbing your shoulders with. Business gurus, Marketing pros, world-renowned CEOs, high-profile politicians, SEO experts, artists, you name it.

Just imagine having access to rooms where your favourite people in the world are having a casual chat without having to buy a ticket or ask for permission.

Getting into a Clubhouse room feels exactly like eavesdropping on a phone call. The casual nature of the app makes it a lot more intimate for participants, and the fact that conversations are never stored gives them a sense of unprecedented freedom.

In fact, there has been a ton of heat online because some politicians and public figures have dared to say things that they would not utter on TV or any other media. This unfiltered medium is what the world craves right now, and what gives journalists their raison d´etre.

But these conversations are only accessible to its 10 million current users. That´s nothing compared to Facebook´s 2.7 billion, and Tiwtters 353 millions.

But, if it has so few users. Why is Clubhouse So Big?

Well, you know the saying: Sometimes less is more.

The reasons Clubhouse has experienced such explosive growth are many.

The Clubhouse app is devoid of images, videos, memes, emojis, and all the bells and whistles that now plague every other social media platform nowadays.

In other words: Clubhouse targets a more mature audience who focuses on real content and stories and is more interested in listening than in getting an ego boost. For a lot of people, including me, that is refreshing.

However, the main reason a lot of people want in is the number of celebrities jumping on the Clubhouse bandwagon. Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Hart, and Deadmou5 are among the most followed celebrities on Clubhouse right now. They have sparked surprisingly exciting conversations, giving us plebs an insight into how the elites approach the problems of the future. And all of these are once-in-a-lifetime conversations. This means that if you missed them, tough luck.

This has created a frenzy among people who suffer from Fear Of Missing Out, creating an extremely high demand for invites all around the globe.

But Is Clubhouse the Ultimate Social Media App?

Hard to say.

The fascinating rise of Clubhouse and audio content has drawn the attention of big tech companies. Twitter has been frantically working on its new Twitter Spaces feature. The idea pretty much follows the Clubhouse app format, but will soon give instant access to its 190 million users. It will also come with all the bells and whistles we´re now used to. It seems the tech giant is using all its power to corner the social media market. And I must admit that Twitter Spaces is kind of cool.

However, we still need to see if Twitter can match Clubhouse´s high-profile magnetism. Twitter´s unclear terms of service, and its now ubiquitous “cancel mob” have caused a lot of people and celebrities to flee.

Some people complain about “moderation issues” within the Clubhouse community. It seems there is no way to weed out “hate speech”. Yet, for me, that´s a plus. As long as Clubhouse remains a mature environment with no “safety rails”, we all are somehow in charge of keeping the conversation civil.

Besides, the good thing about allowing “hate speech” is that people soon can learn strong counter-arguments and get enriched without depending on an algorithm to “protect us”. That makes Clubhouse one of the few sane spaces remaining on the internet. I hope they don´t go in the same direction other platforms are headed. They might start censoring users and topics as soon as they get big enough to afford it.

But only the future will tell.