Hey, keep in mind Clubhouse, the one-time must-have audio social platform, which generated huge buzz, to the purpose the place folks had been selling invites to the app for a whole lot of {dollars} on eBay?
Keep in mind it?
Properly, evidently the Clubhouse crew continues to be holding out hope of rekindling the magic, with a brand new replace that, in Clubhouse’s own words, evolves Clubhouse “to be extra like a messaging app”.
Which, as an audio-focused app, sort of hurts my head to ponder, however right here’s the deal:
Clubhouse is introducing a brand new aspect known as “Chats” that are basically voicemails that your pals can go away for you, so you’ll be able to atone for them at any time within the app.
As per Clubhouse:
“A Chat is a voice-only group chat together with your favourite folks. It’s like a Clubhouse room, however it takes place asynchronously, so you’ll be able to drop by and chime in by yourself time.”
In order famous, it’s like Voicemail that’s open to anyone you permit to hitch in. Which you’ll already do with voice notes on Messenger, Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, X, and LinkedIn, whereas it is also considerably much like X’s voice tweets (that is what they’re still called in the app), which had a second within the solar when just a few celebrities tried them out on launch back in 2020.
Nobody’s been overly excited by these options, however positive, the “new Clubhouse”, which is “designed to be extra social than different messaging apps, and a bit extra Clubhouse-y”.
Positive. Ought to be nice.
Clubhouse says that customers will be capable to push to speak to answer a Chat, hear at 2x, faucet to skip, swipe to the subsequent Chat, “and slide into your pals’ VMs to talk privately”. You may also set your chats to “buddies solely” or “friends-of-friends” to increase the group.
Which is one thing totally different for Clubhouse, I suppose, however functionally, it’s not a serious innovation, nor a serious change that’s prone to get extra customers again to the app.
Which is what Clubhouse actually wants.
At peak, Clubhouse claimed to be serving some 10 million active users per week, however extra not too long ago, its obtain numbers have declined significantly, with the app presently ranking at #214 within the “Social Media” class on the App Retailer.
In April, Clubhouse cut its staff by 50% as a part of an effort to streamline its operations, although it additionally famous on the time that it has “years of runway remaining”, with respect to funding pledges.
Is that also true? Most likely not.
I think that Clubhouse’s utilization declines have heaped a whole lot of strain on the app, and with no actual avenue for improvement if folks simply aren’t concerned about audio rooms anymore, I don’t actually see how “innovating” with reimagined teleconferences and messages goes to assist.
Which is unlucky for the Clubhouse crew, however we’ve seen this occur with any variety of trending apps, with a heap of buzz, and money, flowing their approach for a time, earlier than audiences transfer on, with not a lot left of their wake.
However Clubhouse nonetheless fulfills a distinct segment position for some, and its devoted followers swear by it. So perhaps there’s one thing there, although until these followers quantity within the 10’s of hundreds of thousands, in all probability not.
However Clubhouse is making strikes, and attempting issues out, because it seems to latch again onto the hype practice.
