Curious if anyone else in the community has been using any of these audio social networks and what their experience has been like so far?
Only been on Clubhouse for a few days. Coming from a content consumption point of view, I still feel it has some work to do to. If they can crack the algorithm of recommendations (like Tiktok did for short form videos) they can really get a stronghold on this social space.
I really don’t get it. What’s the benefit of Clubhouse as opposed to a livestream on any one of the numerous other well-established platforms?
It seems like Clubhouse blew up because of the star factor. Elon Musk was an early get so his disciples grabbed on, and it’s an Apple exclusive so those fanboys grabbed on. Two super-trendy groups are talking and boom - you’ve got headlines about an entirely unremarkable app.
The difference is Clubhouse is focused only on audio conversations, where other social networks which have live streaming capabilities are often text/photo/video interactions first.
The other main difference is that it’s not just a livestream of one persons feed, but a room where many people can engage in the conversation and many more can simply listen.
Agree with you in terms of why Clubhouse blew up though; they have certainly done better attracting the mindshare with it’s exclusivity and celebrity.
Before they pivoted into a podcast platform, Anchor tried the social audio space a couple of times but didn’t get the popularity traction to sustain it.
There’s no way Clubhouse can be any more popular than “talk radio” in the long term. Personally I hate talk radio and so I can’t imagine ever considering Clubhouse to be something I’d desire. Also… like radio it’s “live” and they don’t allow recording, so it seems like it would be difficult to appeal to a worldwide audience, because no one is begging to be up at 3am to listen to something half way around the world.
I actually don’t think that’s the goal here.
I dislike talk radio as well, and moderators who treat their room like one (2 or 3 key speakers, questions from audience after they have finished the main discussion) are the least engaging for me.
When rooms have a fluid conversation, with moderators encouraging audience involvement/opinions and drifting off topic based on the mood, this is when I’m most likely to listen more and even contribute.
It’s internet based social group phone calls.
And while there’s always going to be an element of interest being able to be in a room with a public figure, I think the goal is less global engagement and more locally created rooms in this new media.
It’s only really just starting to take hold in South East Asia/Oceania, but there plenty of locally created people/rooms to have engagement during the local time zones.