Video Missed The Radio Star. My discovery of ClubHouse
A world of constraints
No face, only voice.
No recordings, only live.
No website, only an app.
A new social network… as if the world needed yet another one…
Yet, Clubhouse took the world by storm. It got me excited, and I am not alone. Millions are already there, and the platform buzzes with activity. Little nobodies like me along with internet sharko-titans like Zuck or Musk are in constant chatter: in serious conversations or just hanging out.
Clubhouse is further proof that creatively applied constraints can bring amazing results.
Was it worth for the millions to queue and ask their friends for the favour of being part of this new thing? Was I a fool to share my contact book with them? Is this new network a keeper, or just a pandemic pop hit that won’t last through to the summer?
Let’s find out!
A new social media platform
Clubhouse is a new social media platform, based on voice-only conversations. It found the perfect mix of features so that their platform is both incredibly easy to use and valuable for their users. For all, the technology barrier is as low as it can be — both broadcasting and listening are as easy as making a call. “Influencers” are aided by the app itself in growing their influence, as it nags crowds of followers ad nauseam to follow as much as possible. It has some seriously bad privacy practices, but they are not alone. I don’t think the service frontally attacks any of the existing players in the industry, but it will certainly eat from their pie in the attention economy. While the concept is here to stay, it remains to be seen if Clubhouse can keep the firstcomer advantage, or if one of the copy cats that the internet giants are already preparing will ultimately prevail.
What is it like?
Clubhouse is like radio; I can listen to talks in live or I miss them.
Clubhouse is like Instagram; I can follow and be followed. Friends and people that I like (or respect) are there.
Clubhouse is like a meetup (for those who remember what this was). I can join a group of people and chat with them, or just listen.
Clubhouse is like a podcast, I have to dig through a lot of garbage to find gold nuggets.
Clubhouse is also like Facebook, greedy for my personal data, and armed with growth strategies and privacy practices that are at least a bit dodgy.
Voice is for Clubhouse what pictures are for Instagram. People join the platform on their iPhones (Android’s coming), and they can start either broadcasting or join a broadcast using their phone. This happens while everybody’s gently pushed to follow as many other people as possible. Communities can be created by following rooms. That’s it.
Less is more
It is brilliant in its simplicity. It is that kind of genius idea that once you see, it seems obvious. An idea is set to succeed as:
- it has zero technical entry barriers — no complicated software setup, no expensive cameras condenser microphones or mixers, no studio
- it has zero psychological entry barriers — no scripts (as it is just a chat with friends), no makeup (nobody sees me)
- it allows people to gather crowds of followers and to become influencers
- it brings instant gratification and variable rewards. These are important ingredients of addiction, which brings people back to the app over and over. Entering rooms of people and snooping around rewarding for curiosity; and the reward is variable, too — sometimes the conversation is boring, sometimes it is exciting.
- it has already reached a critical mass to benefit from the network effect, having people bring value, which brings more people, which brings more value, and so on.
Audio is a big thing
I do dishes, I vacuum, I queue at the supermarket checkout, I walk. Sometimes I even exercise (yay). All opportunities to get some “me” time, alone with my thoughts, prone to introspection, reflection, or why not, meditation. Except this rarely happens. It could be so useful and rewarding in time.
“In time” is important, there’s no instant gratification. My brain for the last twenty years has been spoon-fed personalised, customised, adapted information — always available, always stimulating, always one click away. Therefore, I experience this idle time as boring or “lost”, and fueled by a withdrawal-symptom-like impulse, I reach for anything that can be “useful” or exciting. And since I need my eyes for other tasks, audio content wins: audiobooks, podcasts, radio.
In the past I used to call people, but nowadays hardly anyone uses the phone for leisure calling.
In our visual world, audio is still very relevant, and there are already so many resources to fill people’s ears. Video did not kill the radio star.
Today there is an abundance of audio content. When a resource becomes abundant, there is something else that becomes scarce. In the past, it was information which was scarce. Now the information is abundant, hence it is the attention that is the scarce resource.
In this attention-scarce, content-abundant world, comes this new resource. Does it have a place?
I’d say it does. It brings back the intimate feeling of late-night calls with friends now lost to time, augmented with the awe accompanying a good talk from a thought leader. The creators might not be complete strangers, but often people we know, and as Facebook has already taught us, my buddy’s cat problems are at least as important to me as the climate crisis.
The Good
Clubhouse puts listeners and creators in direct contact in terms of information and cash. Media companies and internet giants will have less control on what we hear and more people can create, since the barrier is so low.
It is a matter of months until Clubhouse will allow payments and a new economy can materialise, in the vein of Substack and Twitch. There will be winners , those creators that build a good following and bring enough value to their listeners. And Clubhouse itself will come for its pound of flesh. Their income will not be equally distributed, it never is, but there will be fresh revenue streams and opportunities for everybody.
New networks will be created, new connections will be formed. People will be closer to each other and distances will be shorter.
The competition will make the radio and podcast hosts better and more professional.
The Bad and The Ugly
Where there are many of all levels there is noise. So much of it that it is hard to get anything relevant out of it.
Clubhouse gives everyone a voice. The good folk have a voice, but so do the stupid, the mean, the deceiving, the manipulating.
The extensive network of everybody connected to everybody might soon become a series of islands where polarisation and extremism will thrive, completing the work that Twitter started.
The company itself, understandably, doesn’t seem to put too much emphasis on their users’ privacy at this stage. Unlike Apple, Clubhouse is not making its money selling expensive devices so that they can afford the luxury to become the flag-bearer of protecting user rights.
I still feel guilty that I was gullible enough to share my contact list with them for nothing without a second thought. Writing this I realize they are neither the first, nor an isolated case, but part of a long series which includes Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, Google, and of course, Apple. Hmm, maybe it is me.
I also understand their reluctance to reveal that the core of their application — the audio communication services — is provided by Agora, a Chinese-funded company. This doesn’t seem too important, unless you are one of those Chinese citizens finally being able to discuss topics they care about but are forbidden, just to realise that the government could — at least in theory — get access to all the recordings and some identification data.
What’s next?
Well, a lot. It is exciting to see something moving at such speed. Clubhouse could become a household name, at the same level with radio and podcasts, creating and sustaining a flourishing creator economy, or it might just end up a niche product to be bought by one of the big ones. Grab the popcorn!
I want to thank my friends and fellows from the On Deck Writing Fellowship for their time, kindness and encouragement.
This story was originally published in my newsletter. If you’re curious how the Internet changes our lives, concerned about protecting your privacy online and how much power big-tech has over you, or want to understand what certain things are and how they work, then head to dinu.substack.com to read more and (why not) subscribe for weekly updates.
