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Clubhouse App - what is it and first experiences

Intro

Lately the app clubhouse is getting a lot of attention and traction. Yesterday I download the Clubhouse app on my iPhone and started to explore. I joined a room with my old uni buddy Tjalling Dijkstra and his friend Steven Broghouts called "Welcome Steven". All three of us were new on the platform and started chatting freely. This chat took more than 2 hours.

First experiences

Suddenly my buddy Bas Smit, whom actually approved my request to join Clubhouse, jumped into the room. As he is rather known in the Netherlands, he had a rather big following join him as well. Suddenly the group grew to 50+. We started chatting away and gradually the room grew to 150+ people and the group discussion group to over 10 speakers. We discussed a big array of topics, but the red thread was that we had great fun, joking around and sharing quite some knowledge. Topics like social media, content creating, fashion, entrepreneurship, gaming and many more were discussed. The beauty was though, that everyone was very much giving back and trying to help one another.

Clubhouse App
Credit: Jonatan de Boer

So, what is Clubhouse?

The official description is: "Clubhouse is a new type of social network based on voice—where people around the world come together to talk, listen and learn from each other in real-time."

My definition is: an app with chat rooms, where do you not type but talk. And, you can compare it to a conference call where everyone can eavesdrop.  But, it's more, you can compare it to a conference. You can have one person on stage and a huge crowd listening. It can be a panel discussion with multiple people on stage and taking questions from the crowd. It can also be a group discussion of peers with equal rights and speaking time.

Will it kill podcasting?

I do not think Clubhouse will kill podcasting, I do not even see it as a subtitute, but complementary to it.  So, why does it get so much traction I hear your asking? Firstly, because I think people during these weird COVID-19 times and lockdowns cravey human interaction. Obviously voice is better than text and voice only is less confronting than video calls. It is like podcasting a create medium to share knowledge, but where podcasts lack interaction, Clubhouse is all about interaction with the crowd. I would really call it a summit/conference/get-together on your phone.

How does the Clubhouse app work?

For now it is only available for iPhone and by invitation only. The founders want the platform to grow gradually and in a qualitative manner. You have to register with your mobile phone number. You can link your Twitter and Instagram handle. You can choose your own handle, but always have to enter your real first and last name. The bio can be as long or short as you want. Tip: be creative, use enters & emoticons. You can't chat in the app. You can follow others. You can create rooms and discuss any topic you want. You can stream real-time and plan one ahead. While you listen you can navigate within the app, but also on your phone using other apps. It works also very good on your carkit.

Next steps

After a very cool experience last night I logged in the Clubhouse app this morning to see how much traffic there was in the morning and engagement. The funny thing was I joined a Dutch group with a fellow Clubhouser from last night, had a quick chat and left as I was about to get into my first meeting of the day. Later on the day I logged on again and found some new groups, hosted by other Clubhouser that were part of our group last night and got inspired to share knowledge about the app and their journey to become an entrepreneur.

I am planning to experiment with setting up a few rooms on the Clubhouse app soon. I was thinking of setting up the following rooms evolving around these topics:

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Talking Wristwatches
  • Designing Jewelry
  • Diamond Industry
  • Giving back to the community

I would love to hear your experiences with the Clubhouse app and/or what rooms you would like me to set up. And, if there is someone that wishes to team up and create a room together, please send me a message.

Have an awesome day!

=Alon

P.S. My handle on Clubhouse is @alonbj 🙂

#Clubhouse #ClubhouseApp #Podcast #SocialMedia #SocialNetwork