What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is a new social media platform that is based on voice, allowing users of up to 5000 people in a single virtual room to participate through either speaking or listening.

In these virtual rooms, users can listen in on conversations, interviews and discussions from a wide variety of people on an even wider variety of topics. Think of it as listening to a podcast but live instead of prerecorded and with an added element of exclusivity.

How do I get an invite to Clubhouse?

At the moment, the only way you can access Clubhouse is via invitation from somebody who already has access to Clubhouse. It’s almost like your local country club. Clubhouse users can’t invite anyone and everyone though. At the time of writing, existing users only have the ability to send out two invites at first. The developers, however, in the recent blog post outlined their intentions for the app to come out of its beta phase and be available to everybody at some point in 2021.

How does Clubhouse work?

Once you’ve been invited, you can select multiple topics of interest to you whether it be books, films, tech, social media or business. The more you tell Clubhouse about your interests, the more conversation rooms and individuals it will suggest for you to follow or join.

The rooms themselves function very similar to a conference call, but with a few people talking and the rest of the users just listening in. And, just like in a phone call, once the conversation has ended the room closes and the conversation disappears for good with no way of retrieving the audio, that is assuming of course that nobody has recorded the conversation.
Unlike a conference call, however, the rooms will typically have a moderator that can select who in the current room is put “on stage” allowing their audio to be heard by the other participants in the room. Users can virtually “raise a hand” to allow the moderator to see that they feel like they have something to say and it’s up to that room’s creator/moderator if they want to allow you to speak to the room. This feature is especially exciting as it could act as a great way to allow the speaker to engage with their audience, allow the listeners to ask questions or simply participate in the conversation.

How do I create a room in Clubhouse?

Anybody on the app can create a room where you will be the “original host” but you can then designate host privileges to other users in the room to allow them to moderate for you. This is a feature that would be more likely to be used if you’re expecting a large audience but probably not so necessary if your room is a small intimate discussion between friends.

Once you add a topic to your room, the app will then ask if you want the room to be Open, Social or Closed.

An open room is open to anybody who is browsing the app, Social is a room for users that you have connected with via the app, such as followers and Closed is simply a private room where only those who have been selected by you can join.

Where can I download Clubhouse?

Users can download Clubhouse from the Apple app store. Even without an invite, users can download the app and register their details so that they can reserve a username for themselves so they don’t miss out once it becomes available to the public.

Currently, the app is only available to iOS users with Android users being left out of the conversation, at least at the time of writing. The developers have announced that they have started work on an Android version of the app but with no other concrete information than that, it seems like Android users will have to wait for the time being.

Can I use Clubhouse to help grow my business?

As with most new and exciting social media platforms, you can use Clubhouse to help grow your business.

By creating rooms you can invite your potential clients and use it as a way to give a voice to your brand and broadcast your expertise to them while at the same time being able to answer any questions or concerns they may have. The networking potential is also incredibly exciting, business owners are being connected to other experts in your industry and potential clients in both a local and global capacity. This level of insider insight can be incredibly valuable whether it is from spotting and discussing new trends, broadening perspectives to benefitting from shared wisdom. By listening to and participating in these events, your network will expand.

Clubhouse has also recently launched a new monetisation feature that allows speakers to receive money in the form of tips from other users. It has been reported that 100% of the fee will go to the speaker, So now, if audio content is a part of your own business strategy, it is time to think about how you might be able to monetise your expertise on Clubhouse.

The future’s looking bright for Clubhouse. With a current user base of over 10 million people in its closed beta phase, it will certainly be exciting to see the potential this platform offers when it eventually becomes available to the masses at some point later in 2021.