This is Jan and I am done speaking
After a week on the new audio-focussed social app Clubhouse, the most common phrase I heard was “and I am done speaking”. It sounds a little harsh, doesn’t it? The walkie-talkie “over” would have been a nicer way to pass the microphone.
After Clubhouse was mentioned regularly among my Twitter crowd, I was naturally curious. Was it just VCs yammering? What is Clubhouse?
“Part talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews and discussions between interesting people on various topics — it is just like tuning in to a podcast, but live and with an added layer of exclusivity.” - Rafqa Touma, The Guardian
In my first week, my typical experience has been one where I join a room with over 200 people in listen mode, and about 20 people who have talk privileges. Just like at an in-person conference, you are invited to ask a question to the 20-people panel. It also reminded me of Talk Radio. Coming to the US in the 90s, I quickly became a huge fan of KGO810 talk radio in the Bay Area. Thus far, I’ve only been in lurker-mode.
I also joined a few rooms where the Premier League game of the day was being discussed. These rooms were smaller and a lot more chaotic, with everyone chiming in with their opinion. Those rooms lacked a real moderator, yet also came across more natural and fluid. Think Sunday-gameday or a passioned discussion in a sportsbar.
Although I originally heard about the app as a place where white-VC-bros meet, my experience has been much different. Perhaps many of the Silicon Valley venture capital discussion retreated to the closed rooms. Overall the audience is quite diverse.
We should not forget that Clubhouse is still a very young app. Just like Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat in the early days, important features are missing.
There is a lot of criticism about the lack of encryption, especially considering that the back-end infrastructure company, Agora, is in China. Fix this quickly, before a more-secure-Clubhouse pops up.. (If it is true that it took them a month or so to build the app, then others .. uhum … Facebook, Snapchat or Spotify won’t be far behind. Or a shark.)
Also privacy is an issue, as in order to invite people, you need to allow access to your contacts.
I had been invited to join Clubhouse, but my privacy wasn’t welcome.
Clubhouse Is Suggesting Users Invite Their Drug Dealers and Therapists
The Guardian only sees trouble with the app. I give it a few more months for the app to fix security and privacy. Let’s hope the investment and advice from Andreessen-Horowitz will steer them to do so.