In recent weeks, you may have heard a lot about the app, Clubhouse. It’s an audio-only networking app and it’s getting more popular by the second.
As you might expect, an app with that kind of viral growth has a lot of people scratching their heads. We’ve got you covered with some FAQs!
1. Um, what is it?
Well, picture if Zoom, LinkedIn, and Podcasts had a baby. That’s Clubhouse. A voice-based social app where people discuss predetermined topics in “rooms”. While the app has been around since April 2020, its user base grew 300% (to 6 million users) in the past month. Even celebrities like Elon Musk and Ashton Kutcher use it. And who wouldn’t want to chat with them.
2. How do you get on it?
Perhaps one of the reasons people can’t stop talking about it because it feels so exclusive. You can’t just download the app and start using it, you have to wait to be invited to it. Each user gets a limited number of invites and you typically want to save those for someone in your network or industry. Once in, your profile is “tagged” with the user who invited you. The app is still in beta-mode, so some of that might go away in the future. If you can’t find a friend on the app to give you an invite, check out #Clubhouseinvites on Twitter or Instagram, it is an open-armed community and many have scored invites from strangers that way.
3. What does it do?
Once invited to the app, you’ll need to create your profile and select topics you’re interested in. Then you can follow people, join a room, start a room, or chat one-on-one with people. This app couldn’t have launched at a more appropriate time, we’re all getting a little (or a lot) tired of ZOOM but are still wanting connection. Clubhouse lends itself to those connections because it feels authentic and spontaneous-everyone uses their real names and the rooms aren’t recorded ever.
4. You keep mentioning “rooms”, how does a room work?
Rooms are the main feature of the app and a place for users to connect and discuss a specific topic. Each one is full of users that are either speakers/hosts or in the audience listening to the discussion. There are three different types of rooms: open rooms (anyone on the app can see it and join), social rooms (only people that you follow can join) and closed rooms (only for people you select to be there). Open rooms seem to be most common right now, with listeners able to virtually raise their hands to ask questions or make comments on the discussion the speakers are having.
So, have you tried it yet? What else are you curious about? Maybe we’ll start a room and talk about it.
