A spectre is haunting the world – the spectre of digital fatigue. All the powers of old (already?) Internet have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre!
Quite an intro isn’t it? Yeah, that’s how the world is abuzz about this new age social media initiative from two young Indians of Silicon Valley. The new ‘drop-in audio’ app, Clubhouse is causing huge tremors in the industry and the Snapchat friendly generations have quite fled to lead the party in this clubhouse (quite literally too).
Our lives all have been so much into our digital spaces. Our schools, colleges, and office works all have become remote driven and the very same pleasant tones at the start of Zoom/Microsoft Teams/Google Meet meetings that excited us at the start of 2020 have become a haunting tone in just a matter of an year. So, the fatigue of such groups and rooms and teams is all quite evident. Folks around are not ready to ‘pay attention’ to the memes on Facebook or to the ‘oops moments‘ on Instagram.
It’s all after a tiresome and exhausting days people flock for social interaction. So, what do we see on our little-bright mobile screens? Images and videos and long written posts. Pff!!! Social media has been driven so for almost a decade now. Sensing this, on the flip side, two alumnus from Stanford has reimagined (we’re sorry if you’re from the 70’s and lived through the call-in radio era) the collaboration pattern. The one that’s here to stay for long and to be also inclusive of a wider demographic group, DROP-IN AUDIO chats!
What is Clubhouse?
So, in simpler words, CLUBHOUSE is an audio focused app that brings in people in to rooms to causally chat or argue over a topic. A group of people can also join in a room controlled by one/few moderators to help control the number of people talking at a point. What makes this already established model is, Clubhouse is totally free of texts, images and video. There’s none to expect your ‘attention’ (BTW, we’re gonna be on a room discussing if A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N is the most hated word this season), you can either join and be the listener, raise hand (sorry Zoom!), or quietly leave (literally). Nobody cares!!!
While you can follow rooms and set reminders for the upcoming discussions, you can also create a room for you and your gang and invite them to join one. So, all your banters on the new movie can all go on voice now! You can join a room and try having a chat while taking your dog for a walk or when you’re totally naked and lying on your bed, nobody knows. Isn’t this the most satisfying app yet now?
Why is this viral now?
There’s a new term now in the dictionary of the zillenials – ‘passive Interaction’. But the success mantra of the app has been the ‘no f**ks given’ attitude on your contribution or level of interaction. It’s like an interactive podcast or a call-in radio show. You decide and you interact without caring for likes/followers and comment backlash. From what I hear from the users is that, finally there’s going to be PEACE on social media.
What are the experts saying?
Industry experts call it the new wave of social media since the content for social media have long been run by texts, images and videos and the attention these kinds of content garner have seen a drop over the years. Also, this medium of social interaction puts a lot of pre-judgmental notions out of vision and focuses more on the interests and topics.
Another advantage that industry trend analyzers observe is the potential of the people with no formal education background or such challenges. Also, the older generations might also flock into the ecosystem because of the minimal and effective features. So, the demographics of the users would be inclusive of a wider variety than any other apps on internet yet.
How do I join Clubhouse?
The new app is still not rolled-out for all and works on invite-only model. So, unlike Facebook or Twitter, you can’t really jump in to the Hallway, any of your friend should invite or move you up to start using it.
Also, currently, the app is available only for iPhone users. No support for Android, web version or for Windows. So, only Apple iPhone users can use Clubhouse now.
So, at the moment, you can download the app, register for your account and wait for some of your friends to move you up the list for an entry. By default, the already existing users on Clubhouse have 2 invites which you can aim for.
What can bother Clubhouse?
The most pressing issue at the Clubhouse office now should the data leak reported by Stanford Internet Observatory researchers. The report indicated that some of the audio files may be exposed to China based servers and Clubhouse have acknowledged the same.
Also, with the growth that the 10-month-old app is riding on, the titans of the Silicon Valley are already on the spree to mimic it and cash in on the nascent market. Big names like Twitter’s Spaces, Facebook and Mark Cuban’s Fireside is all ramping up their initiatives via their wide arsenal.
Looking at the long term, Clubhouse is yet to present a viable and a practical solution against issues of harassment, cyberbullying, incitement, misinformation and conspiracy theories. Though the policies prevent such actions, just reporting and blocking of users seem meek.
