Suzanne Nuyen

Will Clubhouse Survive? 

 

Clubhouse’s introduction to the public came in March of 2020, meaning the app’s humble beginnings will always be intertwined with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve talked about various reasons why this app surged in popularity. The mass shutdowns of public spaces across the world drove up demand for informal avenues of interacting beyond what was already available. We saw Zoom have a huge boom in business at the beginning of the pandemic, but Clubhouse provided something different. There is not as much of a commitment to interact when communication is through audio only. One can take your phone with you on a walk, or have it turned on while doing chores. The app better simulates informal, friendly interactions. 

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The pandemic will have to end eventually. And once it does, where does Clubhouse go from here? Is the app strong enough to hold its own? Already, Twitter has launched a competitive software, called Twitter Spaces, which allows audio chatting. Slack has expressed interest in doing the same. Discord, which is used often in the gaming community, has always had an audio chat function. 

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Because Clubhouse is riding a wave of hype from its forced exclusivity (the app is in Beta and is only available through invitation, and only to Apple users) in addition to an increase in interest due to social distancing measures, it’s likely that interest will severely plummet once the app is open to all users and the pandemic is over. However, there is a real possibility the live audio chat format is here to stay. It’s a question of whether Clubhouse itself will maintain its status as the top app for the format, or if another app will use the idea and execute it better, similar to how Instagram has integrated Snapchat’s “Story” feature seamlessly into its own app. 

 

Further reading: Strielkowski, W. The Clubhouse Phenomenon: Do We Need Another Social Network?. Preprints 2021, 2021030503 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202103.0503.v1).