Cameron’s App of the Week: Clubhouse
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By Cameron Katoozi, Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing
Most social networking apps follow a simple formula: provide an online platform for people to build connections and expand their network with like-minded people. The most popular social media apps follow this method while all providing their experience through different mediums; photos, videos, and posts – but what about audio? No app has had its primary focus of connecting users to be audio-only. That’s where Clubhouse comes into play.
What is Clubhouse?
The app allows you to explore different topics and clubs and drop into whichever audio chat sounds appealing. The topics are endless; everything from life & wellness to tech & finance. The app gives people the opportunity to explore conversations happening all around the world. Instead of a newsfeed full of posts, you can view a schedule of upcoming conversations, or switch between in-progress rooms as a listener. Simply open the app, create an account, and you’ll see a hallway of ‘rooms’ to choose from.
How Does It Work?
Each discussion takes place in a room. When you enter a room, you will see only profile pictures with an audience of people and a stage of speakers in the room. There are 3 roles you can have:
- Moderator: This is the person who starts a room. You can click on any profile picture and mute, remove or add people to the stage.
- Speaker: This is a person who is invited on stage by the moderator to talk. There can be multiple people on stage at the same time to support active debates and discussions. You can also leave the stage by tapping on your profile pic.
- Listener: Everyone who initially joins a room is a listener. Listeners are audience members, so they are on mute by default. You must be invited to the stage if you want to speak. You can also raise your hand and ask the moderator to get on stage.
Although this is an audio-only app, there is also an in-app chat feature. Backchannel is Clubhouse’s chat feature that allows you to text people directly or start group chats too. With the Replay feature, hosts can enable room recordings so clubhouse users can listen on-demand if they miss a live show. More recently, hosts can now export their recordings and upload them on other platforms to share their best discussions. This way creators can share their whole recordings as a podcast on YouTube or share clips on Instagram stories.
Clubs and Topics
One great way to personalize your home screen is following speakers, topics, and clubs. You can make it as professional or as entertainment-based as you’d like. Most people will start out joining random chat rooms to gauge their interests. Over time, you can explore clubs and discover niche or popular topics and follow your favorite ones. That way, you can check your personalized schedule and join upcoming discussions right when they start. Or if you can’t find a topic or club you’re looking for, just create your own club! You can make it public or private to your followers and start hosting your own rooms.
Top industry names have joined Clubhouse too, so if you’ve ever wanted to listen to Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates, just drop in their rooms. The lack of advertising has pushed creators to use more self-promotion and networking, which strengthens the core motive of the app.
So, if you’re tired of endlessly scrolling through your Instagram or Twitter feeds, switch things up with Clubhouse. For more information, check out their website and download the app on IOS or Android for free.