Clubhouse was launched in the spring of 2020, and it has since become one of the most talked about apps ever. What is it? Clubhouse is a social network where people come together to chat and listen to conversations.
It’s still in its Beta stage at the moment, but the app is already estimated to be worth $1 billion. Clubhouse’s popularity continues to grow everyday, it now has around 10 million weekly active users, though it’s limited to iPhones and works on an invitation-only basis. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Oprah Winfrey are some of its first celebrity users.
Stick with us as we discover more about this fascinating app.
How Does the App Work?
Clubhouse is an unusual social network. There is no traditional news feed to be seen and there are no messages to read. You basically get invited to join a ‘room’ and you communicate with other people in the ‘room’ by using your voice, or you can sit silent and listen to the conversation.
Because of its design the app kind of makes you feel relaxed, and as if you have joined a friendly conversation. It’s like joining a group of interesting people at a café for a chat.
When you sign up to use the app you can state some of your preferences, like tech. In your feed you will then see a list of rooms and clubs where topics you have shown interest in are discussed.
Conversations on Clubhouse can have moderators, and you can create your own themed room or enter a room as a ‘listener’. If you want to join a conversation, you will need to use a special icon and “raise your hand” to speak.
You can link your Clubhouse account to your social media accounts, so you’ll be able to find friends quickly.
Now you’ve got a better idea about the app, let’s look at 7 reasons why you should join it.
7 Reasons to Join Clubhouse
Many people are a little cautious about joining Clubhouse. Why? There are already so many social networks to keep up with, some people don’t like chatting, and not everyone likes the idea of conversations being an invite only. However, Clubhouse has numerous benefits, see some of them below.
- Each room in the Clubhouse app is dedicated to a particular topic. Various topics draw the attention of different people, which means you get to have real discussions about technology, business, and many other subjects with someone who shares the same passion as you.
- As Clubhouse is the product of Silicon Valley, many discussions take place in English. This means that you get an excellent opportunity to listen to people, both native speakers and those who speak English as their second language. You’ll get to learn useful vocabulary from speakers, practice your listening skills, get used to a variety of accents.
- And how about speaking English? Again, Clubhouse is a place where you decide for yourself if you’d like to remain silent or join in and say something. The best way to improve your English is to actually use it. So go ahead, join a conversation and speak up about something you're passionate about.
- You can fight off your stage fright. Having so many listeners is a challenge. However, the fact that you are heard but not seen can help. If you find it difficult to speak in front of an audience but you want to do something about it, begin with Clubhouse - nobody can see you but you can still join in.
- By using Clubhouse you get the chance to reach people that you may never meet in real life. CEOs, heads of startups, talented members of creative industries — everyone who uses Clubhouse wants to share their experiences. Use this opportunity to ask them important questions.
- In each room there is a moderator, many speakers, and several listeners. If you just click on a room and join in you will become a listener. Your sound will be off and you don’t have to participate in the conversation if you don't want to. Just being able to listen is good sometimes!
- For celebrities, Clubhouse іs a space for freedom. In real life, celebrities are surrounded by dozens of fans asking for autographs and they cannot always speak and chat as they would usually. When using Clubhouse they get to think and speak as they wish without feeling rushed. Both celebrities and people listen to each other when using the app, which may not happen if you saw a celebrity on the street. This is what makes Clubhouse so attractive.
You’ve got your reasons to join the app, let’s look at how the app could help to improve your communication skills next.
How to Use the Clubhouse App to Improve Your Communication Skills?
We all seem to be tired of texting and sharing photos on other social networks, but Clubhouse offers something different. It’s all about sharing experience at Clubhouse — just imagine how many people from a variety of backgrounds you could potentially meet while using the app. There are so many users from all over the world — it’s true diversity and you can learn from everyone.
So, how can you use this to improve your communication skills?
Clubhouse likes to follow the idea that conversations are like “Kitchen talks”. This implies that when you’re in chat you have a moderator who invites friends to join a room to become speakers. A company of 5-10 people is formed and they gather and chat about everything, exactly the way it happens in an office kitchen.
This type of talking about anything on the spot, when you’re unprepared, is great for getting you to think about and formulate answers in your mind before you respond. You’ll also get to pick up on how others speak, and what they say when, and you can take these points home with you and try them for yourself.
Additionally, very few people will start speaking in a room the moment they join. This type of informal communication provided by Clubhouse is a gentle way to ease you into joining conversations. You can try asking a question to begin with, and when you get used to how things work you can communicate even more through the app. In time, you’ll build your confidence and you’ll turn into a very good speaker.
Also, when you use Clubhouse, you can just raise your hand to take part in the conversation. This gives you a sense of being part of the conversation because you’re being heard.
Finally, you can enjoy and arrange conversations with people who are like minded. You can choose any topic, and you can either team up with your friends or colleagues, or go it alone, and schedule a meeting. You don’t have to plan it all out, just follow your gut feeling.
Clubhouse offers very different experiences: you could be a host yourself, you could just listen in to a conversation. It’s a place where you can practice your active listening skills.
You know how the app can improve your communication skills, let’s check out why the voice only Clubhouse app is so appealing with people today.
What Makes the Voice Only Side of Clubhouse So Appealing?
As mentioned above, you only use your voice when you use Clubhouse, and this is something that appeals to many individuals. However, during the recent pandemic many people and businesses have decided to use video chatting tools to communicate. One of these tools was Zoom.
Here are some perilous impacts of using video chats...
A new study by Jeremy Bailenson, a Professor of Communication at Stanford University, examined the phenomenon of ‘Zoom fatigue’ recently. He concluded that there are four main reasons why Zoom is so tiring and everyone seems to be looking forward to the end of the video-conference the moment it begins.
The first cause of ‘Zoom fatigue’ is an excessive amount of close-up eye contact. When a meeting takes place offline, our eyes are “wandering” from the speaker to our notes, or to other people’s faces, which cannot be done as naturally on Zoom. Secondly, our brain finds looking at ourselves all the time exhausting, especially when at the same time you have to make a decision and discuss things with other members of the team. Thirdly, video conferencing reduces our mobility. And last but not the least, the cognitive abilities of our brain are overloaded as we can send and see a very limited number of nonverbal signals.
As you may have guessed, these problems would be very limited if you used Clubhouse, because you cannot see yourself and others. This is what makes Clubhouse so appealing. It’s also very likely that the four causes listed above are what set us on a path to find something that reminds us of real-time conversations, that do not cause psychological harm. Again, this is why people like the voice only Clubhouse.
The reason Clubhouse is so popular is because Clubhouse conversations remind us of real-life chats. Yes, the presence of celebrities makes joining in more appealing. But still, the secret ingredient seems to be the voice, its pitch, and tone. Voices are very relatable and the absence of an image on screen turns out to be an advantage.
Furthermore, you are free from so many things other social networks impose too: there is no need to think about how to photograph something in the best possible way, no need to edit anything, to calculate the consequences of what you post, and there’s no need to worry about what you wear or what your hair is like. When using Clubhouse all that matters is the conversation that is going on between like-minded people.
As you can see the voice only app is appealing with several people, but can it be used in business? Find out below.
How to Use the Clubhouse App When In Business?
The short answer is: It’s not clear how this would work yet.
This does not mean that a business should ignore the app. Businesses can’t afford to ignore new opportunities, especially during a crisis.
First, Clubhouse does not have any open statistics showing the most popular rooms and users, which makes any kind of advertising challenging. But it is still in a Beta stage so it could develop something soon!
Here is another thing that makes using it for business complicated. Owners of Android-based devices feel left out, whereas in business it’s important to bank on as many target groups as you can - this included Android users.
Additionally, famous speakers can moderate rooms and offer their services on a paid basis. Users are also allowed to create paid rooms accessible only after you buy tickets. However, the advertising potential of Clubhouse is not exactly clear yet.
Furthermore, some people are selling invites to Clubhouse groups on eBay, but we don’t recommend this as a business opportunity.
Moreover, the creators of Clubhouse banked on the exclusivity and content from world-famous people and heads of companies using the app. So far, it has been working and this could be used in business later on.
Besides, many rooms are dedicated to topics based on technology, business, and marketing. The audience of which are pretty niche. However, this is a place where you could learn a lot of useful things, make new acquaintances, and possibly find business partners.
Finally, Clubhouse is still fresh and attractive so it may be a place where a business could build its brand awareness. Marketers should keep an eye on how this app evolves. Plus, if you plan to grow a following on Clubhouse for yourself you need to think about ways to get noticed.