Clubhouse is a social audio app that was birthed out of Covid. People were locked in their homes by their governments and Clubhouse was the perfect tool for professionals (and others), to stay in touch, network, learn and meet new people.
I bought an iPad early in the pandemic just so I could get access to Clubhouse and see what all the buzz was about. Because of this app, I met many amazing humans, and I’m forever grateful.
New Friends
Glenn Lundy founded a group, Breakfast with Champions, with over 100,000 members – one of the largest on Clubhouse. In this group I’ve met some amazing friends and done business with people. In addition, I’ve learned and grown so much.
Copy Cats
The Clubhouse app spawned several copy cats such as Twitter Spaces, LinkedIn Audio, and others. Spotify, Facebook and other platforms also got into the game, but many of these early platforms have shut down or are shadows of what they were when they first launched.
Changes
Today Clubhouse made some MAJOR changes to its platform, rankling many of its members. Up until now, Clubhouse was built whereas a few “leaders” built up a community of followers. Some Clubhouse influencers might have had 10,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 or more followers. These “whales” led rooms which shared knowledge of various expertise with the followers in that Clubhouse, audio only room (or house).
Today Clubhouse “broke” all of that and said it’s moving to a new focus on “friends” chatting with “friends” as opposed to influencers being followed by lots of people
New Interface
When millions of people logged onto Clubhouse today and in the coming days they were greeted with a brand new interface. A cheery voice greeted users, explainin the new interface as well.
Instead of easily finding a “hallway” of rooms headlining various topics, uses are now prompted to do smaller “chats” with friends.
Who is Clubhouse Competing With
Instead of competing as an audio version of a Zoom webinar, Clubhouse appears to now compete with What’s App groups.
What Does This Mean To You?
- Always work towards building your own customer and follower databases – email, cell phone, etc
- Don’t rely on one platform. Be sure to have several ways to reach your customers or future customers.
- Don’t be afraid of technology, but do know it can change at any time
- Know that technology has its limits. Use it for what it is and what it can do.
Read about the full Clubhouse updates here.
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