Since I wrote a few books about social media and libraries, I do a lot of workshops about social media trends. Recently, I was asked what I thought about newcomer Clubhouse. Here’s the thing: Clubhouse is invite-only (and iOS only, and I’m an Android user), so I don’t have personal experience with it. However, to me, it seems like the next logical step in social media progression. Podcasts are huge, and Clubhouse takes talking to the next level, with groups of people talking to one another about specific topics with the help of a moderator. It also demonstrates how social media is becoming much less public in nature. People want to talk to their friends and like-minded people; not shout into the town square these days.
- Discord is launching new Clubhouse-like channels for audio events [The Verge] “Voice chat is already Discord’s core feature. It’s been that way for years, offering gamers a crystal clear, seamless voice chat service that blew the functionality of in-game chat services out of the water. But there’s no denying the Clubhouse-inspired voice event zeitgeist at the moment, even if ultimately Discord was there first in many ways.”
- Clubhouse, Spotify, and the invention of talking [The Week] “Clubhouse more or less “invented” old-fashion party lines by allowing users to consensually eavesdrop on conversations between famous people, celebrities, and other minor personalities, and occasionally also contribute by virtually “raising their hand” to speak.”
- Clubhouse partners with Stripe to let you send money directly to creators by tapping on their profile [Business Insider] “All users can donate money to creators via “Clubhouse Payments,” the company wrote in a blog post on Sunday. Not all creators can receive payments yet — Clubhouse said it’s starting with a “small test group.””
- LinkedIn confirms its working on a Clubhouse rival, too [The Verge] “Like many companies that saw a pandemic boost, LinkedIn believes the pandemic only accelerated the natural progression toward online networking, remote work and virtual events, which were already in place before lockdowns.”
From the Ohio Web Library:
- Can Clubhouse Keep The Party Going? (McBride, S. (2021). Can Clubhouse Keep The Party Going? Bloomberg Businessweek, 4691, 20–21.)
- Should CISOs stop staff using Clubhouse? (Scroxton, A. (2021). Should CISOs stop staff using Clubhouse? Computer Weekly, 7–10.)
- A Clubhouse Explainer: What Educators Should Know About the New Audio Chat App (Lieberman, M. (2021, March 1). A Clubhouse Explainer: What Educators Should Know About the New Audio Chat App. Education Week (Bethesda, MD).)
