If you’ve been on social media anytime in the last month or so, you’ve probably seen people posting screenshots of their newly made Clubhouse profiles. When Elon Musk joined the app in early February, Clubhouse’s popularity skyrocketed. Suddenly, the new audio based social media platform was on everyone’s radar, even if they couldn’t get an account. While you have to be living under a rock to have not heard of Clubhouse, you might be a bit confused about what exactly it is. If the idea of an audio-only social media platform seems strange, you may be wondering if it’s worth trying to get a Clubhouse invite. We spent some time researching the new app so you don’t have to. Here’s a guide to Clubhouse and the hype surrounding it.
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is an audio based social media platform. You can’t post any photos, videos, or text on Clubhouse. Instead, you enter a chat room, where audio will automatically begin playing. The creator of the room has control over who can speak. If the creator allows you to, you can virtually raise your hand to join in on a conversation. These audio clips are not recorded, so unless a Clubhouse user decides to record and post the conversation using other apps, you’ll only be able to hear it in real time. So far, people have used Clubhouse to host events like book clubs, comedy shows, and debates. Clubhouse is an invite-only, closed platform, so it’s not as easy to get an account as it is for social media platforms like Facebook.
How can I get an invite?
The only way you can join Clubhouse is by being invited by a user. New Clubhouse users are given the ability to invite two people when they first join. Users looking to cash in on the app’s exclusivity have been reported to sell invites on e-commerce sites like Alibaba. As of now, Clubhouse is only available on iOS. iPhone users who don’t have an invite can download the app to reserve a username, but they won’t be able to access any rooms or listen to audio until they’re invited. It is possible that you may be able to join Clubhouse without an invite in the future. However, the company has not released a timeline for when this will happen, saying that they prefer to grow their platform slowly.
Why does everyone keep talking about Clubhouse?
Clubhouse has certainly attracted a lot of attention. Many people started talking about it right away, even if they couldn’t get an invite. In contrast to apps like TikTok, it seems to have attracted the attention of both younger and older social media users. Part of the reason for the Clubhouse hype may be the app’s exclusivity. When TikTok launched last year, many people, especially those in their mid-twenties or older, hesitated to get on the app. At first, it was mainly popular with teenagers. Everyone else knew that they could download the app and start making videos whenever they wanted. Many waited to see how popular the app would become before joining. Since new users can only invite two people to Clubhouse, you need to be one of the first people to ask an existing user for an invite. If you don’t rush to get an invite, you might be left out. And since we don’t know when the app will become available to anyone who’d like to sign up, you might be experiencing audio chat room FOMO for a long time. This need to secure an account quickly likely triggered a lot of the initial media frenzy surrounding Clubhouse.
Why is recording or live streaming yourself so popular these days?
Throughout 2020, we saw a dramatic increase in the popularity of user generated videos and live streams. Prior to last year, most people didn’t bother to create video recordings of themselves for social media or do live streams. Making videos was mainly left to YouTubers, influencers, and celebrities. Your average person typically stuck to text posts or photos, depending on the platform. After the pandemic hit, we started to see our friends’ faces and hear their voices a lot less. When we started working from home, we had to become comfortable with video conferencing technologies like Zoom. The desire to see our loved ones in action and our new comfort levels with being on camera are likely the main drivers behind the popularity of video and audio recordings and live streams on social media. Clubhouse’s focus on audio is another way for us to hear those human voices we so badly miss.
What should I do if I can’t get on Clubhouse?
If you have an android phone or can’t get an invite to Clubhouse, don’t fret. Since the new social media platform is only used by a small amount of people, not having a Clubhouse account is unlikely to hurt your business. It’s much more effective for most brands to be able to market to a wider audience by using open social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter. If you want to experiment with creating audio based media, you can always start a podcast. That being said, if you’re an influencer or only offer your services to an exclusive audience, not having a Clubhouse account may hurt your brand. If that’s the case, we recommend hitting up your connections to see if someone can invite you. In the event that you’re really desperate to get on the app, you might be able to buy an invite through eBay, Reddit, Alibaba, or Craigslist.
