Last week I shared with you that I received an invite to the new social media platform, Clubhouse. Since then, I’ve fielded a flurry of questions about the app, its culture, and how to get “in.”
In as brief a format as I can muster, here are the top 5 things I’ve learned in my first week on Clubhouse:
Flip the script. This app isn’t about looking cool. Unlike other platforms, your ratio of “following” to “followers” is not directly correlated to your influence. At this point we’ve all been conditioned that leaders in social media are defined by the size of their following crowd.
By contrast, users on Clubhouse are encouraged to follow as many others as they can. This tactic maximizes your notifications about ongoing conversations and active clubs. Making the switch is admittedly difficult – but when you buy in, you face a distinct uptick in your own exposure.
But exposure is more than just being in the room. So throw away your tendency to quietly slide into direct messages. In fact, you can’t. Currently, Clubhouse doesn’t offer a user to user text message system. And I hope they never do.
The entire culture of the app is built around identifying, and then using, your voice. “Lurkers” who hang in the back of the room are squandering an opportunity for contextual conversation. Yes, you can glean from others – but speaking opens you up to the prospect of adding value to others. In briefly addressing a room yesterday I made dozens of new connections across other platforms because people started reaching out.
But that outreach threatens your anonymity. And I find that particularly appealing. The culture of the app encourages linking to your other social accounts so you can have those follow up engagements. But a secondary benefit may just be a diminution in “keyboard warrior” and troll culture.
Between linking your other accounts and an app based on speaking in your own voice, we may be on the verge of recapturing an earlier internet culture. At the dawn of the digital age, competing camps battled it out over whether the internet should be anonymous or carry some level of verifiable user identification. Over decades we’ve cherished the former, but on Clubhouse we may just be moving back toward the latter. It’s not perfected, and I’m sure shysters abound, but the culture seems to have potential to weed them out.
Because context is king, and the community can probably smell your bullsh*t. Falsifying your credentials is a lot harder when you have to share your own thoughts in real time. You can build an immaculate profile, but to really get noticed on the app you have to back it up by speaking live.
That jump is difficult for a lot of folks who’ve built themselves followings on other platforms because it’s significantly more challenging to fabricate your content. You can’t filter the quavering of your voice. You’re there for the whole room to experience – blemishes, “ums” and all.
But the community is there to help. And this is the key point. Unlike any other social media platform, there is a culture of contribution and collaboration. Early adopters are actually helping newbies maximize their own potential on the app. It’s truly remarkable.
In short, the community seems to strive to return the social to social media. They draw you into engagement instead of consumption. That’s likely the appeal that will, if anything, make this platform stick. It’s not a never ending podcast session; it’s an ongoing cup of coffee. And for a caffeine addict like me, that is priceless.
If you haven’t gotten into Clubhouse yet, I hope this post pulled the curtain back a little. But I also hope it prompts some questions. What do you want to know? Are you looking for an invite? Or are you looking for some clubs? Leave a comment and let me know how I can help!
Part of the Possible 