Apps come and go but every once in a while you can feel a disturbance in the Force and a real contender is born. That seems to be the case with Clubhouse - a seemingly humble and innocent app that has skyrocketed in popularity in a matter of weeks. Maybe it’s the new Facebook or maybe it’s just a flare deemed to burn out like a falling star in the night sky.
It’s time to carefully dissect this fresh piece of software and try to answer all the questions surrounding it. What is Clubhouse? Why is it so popular? How to become a member? Here we go!
Clubhouse is a new invite-only voice-based social media app. That’s all fine and dandy but what’s really going on here? Just about every modern chat app has some kind of a voice message feature and conference chats/calls with rooms and everything. Well, Clubhouse is a bit different - upon joining you select topics of interest, like science, crypto, startups, U.S. Politics, etc. The app will then recommend you conversation rooms to join and individuals to follow.
Once you’re in, you’ll see a list of rooms you can join, based on your selected topics. When you join a room, you’ll see a list of participants and you’ll probably hear people talking about a certain topic. Clubhouse rooms are hosted by experts, celebrities, entrepreneurs, journalists, and more. It’s a strange podcast/Skype/google meet mix with a pinch of exclusivity added to it. You can raise a hand and ask a question, ping somebody in the room, or quietly leave.
There’s a search option that allows you to find people and clubs you can follow, and you can start a club or a room of your own choice as well. Just don’t expect anyone to join right off the bat. Liking it so far? So, how do you join this thing?
How to join Clubhouse?
At the moment, Clubhouse is in a beta state, meaning that you can’t just install the app on your iPhone and hop in. And by the way, when I say iPhone, that’s no coincidence or me being Apple-centric - there’s no Android version at the moment. So, there are two ways to join Clubhouse, one much quicker and more reliable than the other.
If you happen to know someone who’s a Clubhouse member, you can ask him to send you an invite. Clubhouse members can send 2 invitations upon joining the app and probably more in the course of using it. If you are invited, you’ll see a link texted to your phone number, directing you to a sign-up page in the app.
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The second way to join Clubhouse is to reserve a username and just wait. The waitlist must be huge by now, given the popularity of the app, so don’t get your hopes high. In a recent blog post, Clubhouse developers announced that they’re working on an Android version of the app, as well as getting Clubhouse out of beta and allowing everyone to join. Given the recent investments and the exponential growth of the user base, this might happen sooner than you think. So, why is this thing so popular?
Why is Clubhouse so popular all of a sudden?
Clubhouse launched back in April 2020, and by May 2020 it had just 1,500 users. This underground status remained throughout last year and by December 2020, Clubhouse was still a small venture with around 500,000 users.
It’s hard to pinpoint when the breakthrough happened but one pivotal moment was the Elon Musk interview done by the GOOD TIME club in the app this January. On February 10, 2021, Musk tweeted that he agreed to do Clubhouse with Kanye West, and later this month Musk asked the Russian president Vladimir Putin to join him on Clubhouse for a talk.
The result? Clubhouse now has more than 2 million users and after some bold investments, the app is valued at $1 billion. This puts it up there with companies like Airbnb, Uber, and SpaceX - of course, when these companies were in a startup phase. So, what do you think about Clubhouse? Have you managed to get on board yet? Share in the comments below!
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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