I am so glad you wrote about this - it's been top of my mind lately as well as I see screenshots of my friends bragging about being in certain rooms with certain people on their social feed. That said, out of curiosity, I also tried it out for a week, and my impression has shifted. I joined a few "famous" people conversations and actually didn't find the conversations interesting. Feels more like joining a conference or watching a recorded interview. The entire conversation was moderated and there was not much audience engagement. That said, 2 types of room really stood out to me as something unique. 1 is music jam - where a group of musicians across countries and language get together and do improv. There is a room where a bunch of American and Japanese musicians got together and have some volunteer audience act as translators to facilitate music sharing. Once in a while a big name musician will pop in and do a gig, but most of the time the performers are not that famous. However, you can check out their profile and follow them as a way to discover this new/emerging musician. I think it's a very cool idea to discover artists. The other type of room is just topic-specific chat room (e.g., artists lounge) where people of interest will join and chat about a specific topic. I joined a room where emerging artists discuss their challenges and how to get professional exposure. Almost 1/3 of people in the room spoke at some point. The room ran for at least 6 hours with different people moderating at one point, completely organic. I heard some really honest and genuine advice given out to the audience and very thoughtful discussion. The fact that there is no text function and no video offers a very unique way of engagement. At least, I feel very comfortable raising hand (because I don't need to show my face) while being able to focus on the conversation (e.g., no chat feeds to distract me). Everything is IN the conversation. I still have mixed feeling about ClubHouse, but I see it as a potentially very powerful tool that is different from any of the major social media platforms out there. That said, all the questions you raised in your newsletter are so on point and I really hope the team can figure out an equitable, inclusive, and safe way to bring this platform to more people.
Jus like the poster below, am so glad you wrote it. I was surprised by the kind of 'marketing' and 'networking' gimmick it became on instagram--where people were literally bragging- "tune in to see what Elon Musk said- with A and B", as if it was a one on one conversation--using that particular convo to cache in some followers. Despite that, in my limited experience with Clubhouse, I found a few rooms very useful for different people. For example, one room had elevator pitches by aspiring entrepreneurs - so a great opportunity, if you happen to stumble upon right people in that room- they were given some genuine advice as well. Nevertheless, you raise some very interesting questions and it would be interesting to see how it pans out and how accessible and relevant it becomes/remains.
I am so glad you wrote about this - it's been top of my mind lately as well as I see screenshots of my friends bragging about being in certain rooms with certain people on their social feed. That said, out of curiosity, I also tried it out for a week, and my impression has shifted. I joined a few "famous" people conversations and actually didn't find the conversations interesting. Feels more like joining a conference or watching a recorded interview. The entire conversation was moderated and there was not much audience engagement. That said, 2 types of room really stood out to me as something unique. 1 is music jam - where a group of musicians across countries and language get together and do improv. There is a room where a bunch of American and Japanese musicians got together and have some volunteer audience act as translators to facilitate music sharing. Once in a while a big name musician will pop in and do a gig, but most of the time the performers are not that famous. However, you can check out their profile and follow them as a way to discover this new/emerging musician. I think it's a very cool idea to discover artists. The other type of room is just topic-specific chat room (e.g., artists lounge) where people of interest will join and chat about a specific topic. I joined a room where emerging artists discuss their challenges and how to get professional exposure. Almost 1/3 of people in the room spoke at some point. The room ran for at least 6 hours with different people moderating at one point, completely organic. I heard some really honest and genuine advice given out to the audience and very thoughtful discussion. The fact that there is no text function and no video offers a very unique way of engagement. At least, I feel very comfortable raising hand (because I don't need to show my face) while being able to focus on the conversation (e.g., no chat feeds to distract me). Everything is IN the conversation. I still have mixed feeling about ClubHouse, but I see it as a potentially very powerful tool that is different from any of the major social media platforms out there. That said, all the questions you raised in your newsletter are so on point and I really hope the team can figure out an equitable, inclusive, and safe way to bring this platform to more people.
Jus like the poster below, am so glad you wrote it. I was surprised by the kind of 'marketing' and 'networking' gimmick it became on instagram--where people were literally bragging- "tune in to see what Elon Musk said- with A and B", as if it was a one on one conversation--using that particular convo to cache in some followers. Despite that, in my limited experience with Clubhouse, I found a few rooms very useful for different people. For example, one room had elevator pitches by aspiring entrepreneurs - so a great opportunity, if you happen to stumble upon right people in that room- they were given some genuine advice as well. Nevertheless, you raise some very interesting questions and it would be interesting to see how it pans out and how accessible and relevant it becomes/remains.