According to App Annie, a mobile intelligence and analytics company, Clubhouse has made more than 8 million downloads worldwide since its inception.
The audio social chat app is invitation only and available for iOS. However, in the last few months, growth has exploded as users invite their friends to join.
It had over 3.5 million downloads worldwide as of February 1 and 8.1 million by February 16, 2021, and it has quickly garnered attention in the UK, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Turkey, wrote Lexi Sydow, an analyst at App Annie, in a blog post.
“It’s like fitting into the zeitgeist in real time,” said Jon Radoff, CEO of the game development platform Beamable, in a message. “I learn a lot in every conversation I have had.”
Radoff’s Game Industry Cocktails room has been operating non-stop for four days as various moderators take over the conversation and keep it going. I’m coming to see him tonight at 6 p.m. to talk about game venture capital.
Like many other social enterprises in the pandemic, Clubhouse benefits from the need to replace what we have lost.
“It has certainly filled in the gap I had in my ability to network when there were no more conferences,” Oden Sharon, a game developer in Israel, said in a message.
I’ve been regular, especially during my evening jogs when I have time to listen. I’ve often joined rooms where 5,000 people listened to the likes of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, who led a $ 100 million investment round for Clubhouse on Jan. 25. Other well-known people who took part in the talks were Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
I like it because I can take part in game-themed panels right away. There are regular discussions about virtual reality, blockchain and cryptocurrency, gaming careers, fundraising, acquisition frenzy and much more. Anyone can create a room, and you can invite all of your friends to join, and they can invite their friends. You will see the rooms your friends are in and you can explore other rooms at random.
With hundreds of people joining the rooms, the chances are good that an expert will be available to discuss a topic. Presenters can get viewers to join the stage and viewers can raise a virtual hand to ask questions. After asking a question, the moderator can put it back into the audience. The moderator can also boot anyone from a room.
Elena Mazhuha, Investment Manager at Genesis Investments, has been in the clubhouse for about six weeks and hosts the Hype News Show every Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
“It’s a great tool for online events. It takes a minute to create an event and let every follower know when it’s going to happen. The voice quality is high. The UX (User Experience) is easy even for non-demanding users, ”she said in a message. “You don’t have to worry about how you look when you network through Clubhouse. No video calls, no problems. Conversations between speakers feel lively and human. They’re not as sophisticated as podcasts, which makes them better for a broad audience because the broader audience loves “rough edges.”
She also said, “The clubhouse fills the void that the radio once filled. When I was a kid, I dreamed of calling the radio and saying hello to my mom and dad. In the clubhouse, people can raise their hands and say hello on the live stream. “
However, Mazhuha said it was difficult to find the right conversations as friends would invite them for irrelevant conversations. And there is no recording, so the fear of missing out is quite great.
There are many technicians and celebrities on the platform as well as influencers. I’ve seen more game people, but this community is still emerging. The clubhouse is strongest when it has had lively but civil debates. Last night, Eros Resmini, former Head of Marketing at Discord, attended a session on Discord vs. Clubhouse. Only once have I seen a viewer ask something completely different from the topic when they asked if anyone in the room knew how to fix a Wii U game console.
“The clubhouse is great because, like LinkedIn, it serves as a corporate network and still has a panel format. It’s a great tool for connecting with like-minded business people, ”said Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential. “The audio-only format is great, largely due to our shared burnout at video meetings in the last 10 months of the lockdown. The transience of the platform and the ability for big names to get into a chat also make it exciting and unpredictable. Not too much to say. I’ll mention that it is still a limited audience as it is in beta and it remains to be seen how they can incorporate brands and influencers. “
The app has been downloaded 2.6 million times to date in the US, and invitations are always easier to come by. Facebook is reportedly building a competing audio chat product, and other competitors on the global scene include Dizhua, Tiya, Yalla, and Quilt.
“As someone who’s worked on public radio, it’s a reinterpretation of audio. It reminds me a lot of talk radio with a layer of social media for a younger generation, “Health-focused game maker Swatee Surve said in a message. “I like the fact that Clubhouse is an experience that takes you away from a screen. I really enjoyed the diversity of the audience – especially more [Black] Perspectives. I’m still trying to find the sweet spot. There is a lot of great business and startup content out there, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I am looking for different topics with which I can learn new and unknown things, help me see a different perspective or connect with kindred spirits. I have a hard time finding this type of content. I find it difficult to have informative conversations with people I have never met or whose background I don’t know – especially with sensitive topics. Some of this can be solved through UX / UI improvements, other things – like the quality of the content – are left to the participants. “
Not everyone is a fan of Clubhouse as it has some kind of elite (or elitist) crowd right now.
“My impression is that Clubhouse is just another example of how Silicon Valley is trying to ‘sex-up’ an existing solution that isn’t broken,” said Jonathan Hirshon, a seasoned public relations man, in a message. “It’s called a conference call over IP. Yes, the UI is good and all of the UX works, but I am very skeptical that Twitter, Zoom, or Cisco cannot easily clone this concept. “
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