Clubhouse is the latest hot new c. It’s getting a lot of buzz, and celebrities including Elon Musk, Drake and even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are jumping on board.
Digital platforming geeks everywhere are clamoring for their invite while the rest of us wait for it to break out of beta and open to anyone who wishes to sign up. But more broadly, the app itself remains unclear and cloaked in mystery. What is it, and how does it work?
This is in part because it’s hard to explain Clubhouse to someone who hasn’t experienced it yet and is borrowing expectations for its framework from other social media sites.
Rather than shoveling bite-sized content to users in a feed of print and visuals similar to Twitter or Instagram, in Clubhouse, you engage with the content by starting in a feed-like “hallway”—but that’s not where the social element of this network takes place. This is just your way to browse and find the conversations you wish to join, which take place in Rooms.
From the hallway, you can view notices for current and upcoming Rooms based on your interests. And each of these rooms represents a live conversation underway on a focused topic. You’re free to hop in and out of them as you please.
It’s like radio (live and open) crossed with podcasts (online audio content).
In this way, Clubhouse is bringing together some of the most recent digital media trends, within a completely fresh structure and eliminating the visual element. In the era of Zoom fatigue, I welcome this enthusiastically.
It’s still early, but from first impressions, Clubhouse holds a great deal of potential for thought leadership – from influencers, experts and brands like – and was designed with a mind toward prioritizing authentic connections and valuable conversations.
Start Here
Though Clubhouse is young, there’s already a number of great resources available to get you up to speed on what Clubhouse is and how to use it.
Set your foundation with these great resources:
- How to Get Started on Clubhouse, Social Media Examiner
- 5 Ways to Build a Following on Clubhouse, Neil Patel
- 5 Reasons to Include Clubhouse in Your Comms Strategy, PR Week
These resources are sure to get you off to a strong start! But if you’re like me, there’s nothing like just getting in there and trying it for yourself.
Join the Club
Here are a few clubs PR and communications pros can check out to get started:
- CH Townhall: While this club isn’t officially run by the Clubhouse creators, this crew of early adopters run rooms focused on welcoming newbies and helping them orient to both its formalized rules, tools and unspoken expectations for engagement.
- The PR Society: Described as “a community of public relations and communications professionals who need a damn break,” this club focuses on bringing folks from the industry together to vent, support and learn together.
- Communications & PR: This crew is some real Clubhouse OG—the club was founded way back in December 2020! With 18,000 followers already, it offers an industry-focused weekly Q&A chat, and an opportunity to network and grow on the platform.
- POLITICO: Brands aren’t prominent on the network yet, though certain brand leaders have accounts and are engaging as thought leaders. Much is still to be determined about how brands will find ways to effectively connect with Clubhouse users, but if you’d like to see how it’s being done in the early days, POLITICO created an account for its outlet, rather than an individual.
Clubhouse: A Space for Connection & Conversation
Clubhouse may be young, but it’s already found a compelling niche within the social media ecosystem. For organizations with insights to share, it may just prove to be a valuable forum to make connections and hold meaningful conversations.
