The latest smartphone application, a new social media star will delight you as it has a huge potential to change the way we communicate, learn, share knowledge, meet new colleagues and friends. This app is currently available on iOS devices, it is based on voice communication in real-time and its name is Clubhouse.
Imagine a fusion of LinkedIn, Twitter, and podcast in one application, and you will get Clubhouse – a place to communicate with the most relevant people from your niche, you can ask many questions, just as we did at conferences before the pandemics. Besides the active communication with experts, there’s an audio option, so you can get into chat rooms and participate as a listener only.
If you got interested in this new social channel, keep reading this blog post and find out more about it. Based on stats, last year in May, this app has only 1500 users, mostly from the USA, while in January this year this number increased to 2 million and users come from all around the world.
Purpose and characteristics of Clubhouse application
The purpose of this application is to connect its users, so they can exchange their professional experiences, knowledge, and probably establish potential collaboration. It is similar to LinkedIn but much better as in this app you can find clients, mentors, collaborators, professional idols. In a professional exchange, you can get many tips valuable for your further career.
This application definitely stands out from others as it offers the potential of building a real community, based on similar interests. People exchange a few thoughts, sentences, resembling a friendly conversation and not conference lectures. This is exactly what attracted people to join this new way of communication. This less formal situation is a fertile ground for making close connections.
Another unique characteristic is the way you can access this app. Namely, you can join these exclusive online groups online if you receive an invitation.
You can be invited in two ways: one of them is to register on their site and wait for their confirmation, or you can be invited by a Clubhouse member, via your phone number. Again, we would like to point out only iPhone users can use this app for now. You get two invitations when you register, and you can send them to your friends or colleagues, after a wee you get three more invitations. To get more invitations, you need to be active in conversation and interact with other Clubhouse members.
The marketing potential of Clubhouse
As soon as the application becomes available on Android devices, the number of users will rapidly jump. More people bring more potential for using the application for marketing purposes.
Currently, the application is mostly being used for business communication but it opens new possibilities related to the ways of additional usage but also defining certain ways of charging for products. For example, Clubhouse could take a commission from owners of chat rooms who organize discussions. Similar to a monthly subscription on Amazon Twitch for specialized chat rooms.
Let go even further and imagine some people will gladly buy a set of emoticons to send reactions in rooms they follow. This will also allow them to create a type of visual communication with other participants. Besides, a large number of users will attract popular lecturers on one side and program hosts from the other side. This could be used to charge the access to sessions of the most eminent experts.
These are just wild guesses about the potentials of Clubhouse application.
Challenges and security
Despite many pros, Clubhouse has its cons as well. First of all, these cons are related to data security. The application requires phone numbers from its users, but that’s not all, as it asks for access to all contacts to be able to invite them all in the future.
Another challenge is free speech. There were a few issues with unpredictable situations. Some of the users complained of insufficient content control, mentions of racism, hate speech, etc.
What we can do is to give some time to this app to deal with these security issues in order to enhance the user experience.
Will Clubhouse stay popular even after the pandemics
This app was created during pandemics when we were all locked in our homes and longing for any kind of communication. After spending more time with our family, we felt the need to refresh our business contacts. Some of those contacts don’t live in Serbia, so we didn’t have the chance to meet them in person, all conferences were either canceled or online.
At this point, it seems Clubhouse has the potential to survive after pandemics, as some people prefer listening to online conferences since they cannot travel or cannot afford to travel. Also, there’s a huge potential in opening small, specialized chat rooms on the level of a country, region, continent where the users can exchange thoughts on certain topics and connect with their colleagues.
Top three interesting facts related to Clubhouse application
- The average time spent in the application is 90 minutes. Quite enough time to listen to the whole lecture or even part of it, and meet new people.
- The most common word is PTR (Pull to Refresh), as new people continuously arrive, so it is needed to refresh the page constantly if you want to know who is in the chat room.
- Optimization is important. It is needed to give as explicit titles to chat rooms as possible so people can instantly know what it is all about.
In a nutshell, Clubhouse appears as the right place for people interested in business education, new contacts, progress. We look forward to trying it and share our impressions.
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