The Social Media space is a crowded one with tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat having a firm hold. While newcomers keep trying to lure you with all sorts of whacky and interesting ideas in the hope, you have gotten bored of the established ones. It’s a surprise to none that it’s tough to stand out in such a crowded space. But someway somehow, a newcomer has been able to beat the odds. Yes, we are talking about Clubhouse, the voice-only social media. And today, we will take a look at its meteoric rise, its impact on the tech industry and the whole startup landscape.
If you have been living under a rock for quite a while and suddenly stumbled upon this article, firstly, heyyyy welcome back. Secondly, Clubhouse is a different social media because its sole focus is on Audio/Voice. It has “Rooms” where people talk about various topics. You can listen to them, or maybe you can join in the conversation if the “Room Moderator” allows you. It’s like a live podcast mixed with a seminar. In my eyes, it’s a Twitter with a voice; “Rooms” are “Hashtags” where anyone from anywhere can join in, the caveat being if it’s public. In a world where most people were/are locked up inside and craving connection, it has provided a way for like-minded people to meet up and have a conversation via voice which is innately more intimate than a bunch of texts on the screen.
Even though it’s not groundbreaking, Credit where Credit’s due, it doesn’t have to be groundbreaking either. As famously said by Tom Freston, the cofounder of MTV, “Innovation is taking two things that exist and putting them together in a new way.” We had video chats, groups, hashtags, and podcasts. But each of them had its own flaws; there was no discoverability for the video chats, hashtags were all texts, podcasts were passive for the listeners, and as it turns out, many people like the comfort of not showing their face. And what happens when you mix that all up? That becomes The Clubhouse.
We all are geniuses in hindsight, but what does the future hold for Clubhouse? Will people keep using the app even if the world gets back to the “normal”? All we can do is speculate, but the thing I can say with certainty is that the tech giants will not stay there quiet; they’d also want the piece of the pie. Having seen what has worked for Clubhouse, they will definitely add some flavours to entice the customers, but they have an unfair advantage due to pre-existing customers. As the reports suggest, the development of each’s Clubhouse inspired features have commenced. It’d be interesting to see if the users stick to Clubhouse or get back to the established platforms. The Clubhouse can have a reprieve knowing that even though every tech giant copied TikTok, it continues to thrive. Having said that, it has a lot of testing water to cross in the near future.
Finally, let’s look at how this impacts the startup landscape. Clubhouse demonstrates that it’s never too late or too ambitious to question or go against the status quo, the established ones. Newcomers put the fuel for innovation and keep the pre-existing ones on their toes, makes them innovate and adapt, which ultimately leads to customers having better services, more options and a culture where everyone thrives to become the best.
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