Let's talk Clubhouse!

A few weeks ago, I finally got invited to the increasingly popular social media app, Clubhouse. I felt almost elite to be included in this exclusive community. As an Android user (part of nearly 85% of the global smartphone market) for the first time I was grateful to have a second phone (iPhone) to even get access to this app in this first place.

If you don’t know what Clubhouse is all about, scroll all the way to the bottom to read more.

What I believe Clubhouse did well, is the idea of an invite-only community, which piqued interest and capitalized on a fundamental human need to belong. Being accepted to an exclusive club helped improve that sentiment and give you a nice dopamine boost. It also garnered a lot of buzz by inviting celebrities like Drake, Tiffany Haddish, Jared Leto, Ashton Kutcher and Chris Rock.

After wandering around the app, as a consumer-first Marketer, I see some glaring opportunities that I want to share. As a user, I really hope Clubhouse addresses (urgently):

SUPERIOR CONSUMER EXPERIENCE:

I understand that the app is in beta form, but I am surprised to see how little consideration has been paid to consumer experience for an exclusive app like Clubhouse. The app has a chaotic interface. There are literally hundreds of “chat rooms” to choose from depending on your interest, and the algorithm is not optimized to serve you content that you desire (hello inappropriate rooms that I didn’t ask for!). And thank you for all the great content in Spanish, but I didn’t understand a word. Even as a social butterfly and an extrovert, I was completely overwhelmed. The app leaves you with a major #FOMO feeling where I was worried that I would miss out on that one chat room that had Oprah or Elon Musk in it.

Solution: Prioritize consumer-experience over everything else. Make the interface intuitive, informative, and easy to navigate. Sort through the endless chat rooms for me to recommend ones that matter based on my bio, interests, and past interactions. Make it simple for others to return to your platform without feeling overwhelmed with every experience.

SELF HELP VS. HELPING OTHERS:

If you are looking for advice, it is endless on Clubhouse. From the “best stocks to buy” to “acing relationships”, you can find a conversation around any and every topic. However, there are a ton of chat rooms that sound like a cry for help. Marketers talking about Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) just doesn’t sound like relevant content given their area of expertise.

Solution: Create Influencer groups. Clubhouse can nominate “influencers” or "creators" in their area of expertise, who can drive more value-add conversations, and invite more experts to speak in their chat rooms. It will drive higher engagement and make the content way more relevant and informative. I know this was being tested, but I frankly don’t see it being implemented.

STAND FOR SOMETHING:

If Clubhouse was to become a credible app in the world of social media giants, it is important to filter through content to identify what is inappropriate vs. relevant! It seems to be a huge positioning misalignment where there is lack of clarity on what belongs on this platform. You cannot be everything to everyone, or you will upset many. Stand for something and stay true to it. For example, Facebook started off as a community to bring the world closer together (mostly friends and family), whereas LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals and Twitter is to generate real-time conversations. What is Clubhouse’s positioning? As a marketer, this is unclear to me.

Solution: Clubhouse can stand for many things, but it is important to do it in a way that is credible way. Given it is a voice only platform, which is a lot more approachable for all given there is no “face-time” involved and you can be part of the silent crowd, Clubhouse is a (voice-based) community to talk about interests you share with others. That is one example, but Clubhouse needs to figure out what they stand for real quick and optimize content accordingly.

BONUS:

I can’t help but talk about where I see this going. In January 2021, Clubhouse got a $1B valuation. While it is still quite new, it will soon be ripe for acquisition. After doing a bit of research on the founders, it looks like they are strong proponents of what I call "Found and Flip" . Rohan Seth has sold his startup Memry Labs to Opendoor and has recently founded Lydian Accelerator. Paul Davison sold his company Highlight to Pinterest and is currently a founder of Alpha Exploration Co. These guys are geniuses and ones to follow!

My thoughts are Google or Twitter should consider acquiring Clubhouse. Here’s why:

• Google has had a few of unsuccessful attempts and winning with a reliable social media platform. Clubhouse is leveraging the one thing that Google has expertise in: Voice. It would work with Google’s ability to expand its voice and audio offerings with a platform that adds incremental value vs. existing social networks, allowing Google to create a differentiated offering. Plus, let’s be honest, Clubhouse can use a giant like Google to help make its interface more consumer friendly.
• Twitter stands for conversations in the digital space, but has not been able to truly capitalize on “Voice” yet. The company has had huge momentum (stock price is up 88% in 1 year) and this may be an opportunity for Jack Dorsey to leverage their existing strengths (real-time conversations) but with Voice. Clubhouse is complementary to what Twitter stands for.

That's it for my quick Clubhouse review! Are you on Clubhouse yet? Do share what you think about your experience thus far! Thanks for reading.

What is Clubhouse:

Clubhouse is the latest social media app to hit the scene, and it’s quickly gained popularity as celebrities and visionaries (ehm, Elon Musk) have started using the app. Clubhouse uses a conversation model where there are ‘chat rooms’ you can join. Each chat room has its own topic of discussion. Within the chat, you can either speak with those in the conversation or listen quietly. It is essentially like listening to a radio on topics that interest you, with possibility of a two-way conversation. You must have an invite to join, and once you’re in, you get one invite to extend to someone else. While the app is still in beta, and this exclusivity may or may not be intentional, it nonetheless fosters a sense of elitism.