My First Two Weeks on Clubhouse
Swept Up in a Global Whirlwind of Drop-in Social Audio
[Clubhouse is rapidly growing with changing user features. App updates occur weekly. Sometimes more frequently. The information below is accurate as of March 3, 2021. I have noted critical updates since that date in italics.]
I recently joined Clubhouse. I hadn’t intended to download the drop-in audio app on that Sunday afternoon, but multiple nudges convinced me the time had come.
First, I read a tweet promoting a noteworthy event @ joinclubhouse; then I saw yet another article about the explosive growth of the Silicon Valley–based startup — estimated to have more than two million active weekly users around the world. Finally, a business colleague mentioned that he had joined.
After I downloaded the app on my iPhone, I registered — but I wasn’t in the club yet. An existing member of Clubhouse needed to invite me.
My app registration, linked to my mobile number, triggered a notification to Clubhouse members who have my phone number in their contact lists. Would anyone invite me to the party?
A rush of excitement washed over me as I received an invitation from Paige Wilson, founder of Naborforce, a Virginia-based startup that provides on-demand nonmedical home help for older adults. I had met Paige while serving as a mentor for the Techstars Future of Longevity Accelerator.
Once I was officially “in,” I set up my profile, entering my legal name (Paul Moniz) and username (@paulmoniz). Off to Clubhouse.
The Clubhouse Wave
With more than $100 million in funding, Clubhouse has become one of the latest tech unicorns. App downloads reportedly surpassed 10 million in late February. Clubhouse doesn’t divulge the number of downloads publicly.
The app is available in more than 150 countries. Outside North America, it’s currently the most-downloaded app in Germany, Japan, Slovakia, and Turkey. The platform is also gaining traction in Brazil, Thailand, and parts of Africa. India remains untapped, since only about 3 percent of smartphone users in that country own iPhones, mostly due to the high cost.
Clubhouse is not even one year old (its birthday is 12 days away) and the startup already has a post-money valuation of $1 billion. Its founders — Paul Davison and Rohan Seth — are bullish, leading a lean team that continues to roll out new product features on a near-weekly basis.
The app is presently iOS-based and still in beta. Right now, it’s available only on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch — running iOS 13.0 or later. An Android version is in development.
The platform attracts everyone from musicians and celebrities to startup founders and — increasingly — thought leaders in just about every field. Clubhouse members may be mega-influencers (one million–plus social media followers) or nano-influencers (10,000 social media followers or fewer). Clubhouse also attracts other fascinating people who have something valuable to contribute to a conversation even though they may have little social media influence at all.
During a global pandemic in which people are isolated, are craving connection, and may be experiencing videoconference fatigue due to working from home, the growth of “social audio,” as it has become known, offers something unique. Some have likened it to an interactive podcast. You can choose to listen only or listen and speak. And you can connect and network on your own terms.
Clubhouse isn’t the only audio-only platform in the expanding marketplace. Twitter is rolling out a feature called Spaces on iOS (and now on Android in beta) that allows members to engage in audio-only conversations directly from the Twitter app. The New York Times reports that Facebook is working on an audio-chat product. Investor Mark Cuban and co-founder Falon Fatemi are reportedly set to launch the Fireside app this year. Fireside is an interactive platform that will allow podcast hosts to talk to fans live, and record and monetize conversations. Expect more competitors to join the fray.
Many enthusiasts see drop-in audio as a welcome respite from the pressure to be “always on” yet still remain connected and engaged.
Navigating Clubhouse
On Clubhouse, members can choose to engage in conversations in 14 broad content buckets, from sports to world affairs, from tech to wellness. Conversations occur around the clock, across the globe and in different languages. Clubhouse also hosts discussions with newsmakers and tech titans. Past guests have included Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg; more recently, Andrew Ross Sorkin interviewed Bill Gates.
Do You Speak Clubhouse?
If you’re a new Clubhouse member — or are planning to join — you might be wondering how to navigate this environment and develop a strategy to justify the time you spend there.
How do you select discussions that might interest you? How can you participate in conversations, rather than just listening? To begin, note that Clubhouse has its own lingo and behavioral norms. You’ll need to learn them.
Here’s a short list to get you started.
Room:
Where conversations occur. Any member can start a room. Rooms can range in size from one (just you) to thousands. Room limits have been increasing. A room can be public or private. It may or may not be part of a club. Rooms have no time limit. They can be open for minutes or for days. (The record so far is 12 full days, around the clock.)
Stage:
Where people speak in a room.
Club:
A Clubhouse-approved organization, usually based on shared interests or expertise. As a member, you can follow any club. You become a member only if a club’s creators invite you in. One benefit of being a club member is having access to special events, resources, and private rooms. An icon representing each club a Clubhouse member belongs to appears at the bottom of that member’s profile.
Hallway:
Where announcements of live and upcoming rooms are posted; also called the “Clubhouse calendar.” To see events that are in progress when you open the app, or that will occur in the near future, tap on the calendar icon in the top navigation and scroll down to see rooms by topic or club. The rooms that you’ll see displayed are determined by whom you are following.
Note: At the time of this writing, there’s no quick way to search the calendar. Get ready to scroll! The Clubhouse team is aware of this limitation. Users hope that a fix is on the way.
The “Google” of Clubhouse:
The powerful in-app magnifying-glass feature that allows you to search people and clubs. You can search by name, Clubhouse username (preceded by an @ symbol), keywords in a member’s bio — even emojis.
Emoji Searches:
A great way to connect with new people. A member may be interested in basketball or cooking, let’s say, but choose not to use the word “basketball” or “cooking” in the member’s bio. If you don’t try the emoji feature, you might miss out on connecting with some like-minded members.
Tip: If you’re looking for a specific member and you know that person’s Clubhouse username, enter it in search. Remember, this is a global app with millions of members. Many people have the same or similar legal names, but no two people have the same username. This approach saves a lot of time when you’re trying to find a specific person.
Party Hat:
An emoji on your profile that indicates to other members (including moderators) that you are new to the platform. You lose your party hat after seven days, regardless of your level of Clubhouse engagement during that time. Members are more forgiving of initial Clubhouse foibles when they see the “newbie” hat. (See my personal Clubhouse “fails” below.)
Green Bean:
The emoji used on a member’s profile image (while in a room) to indicate that the person is a moderator. There can be one moderator or several in a room. As a moderator, you can invite audience members in the room to the stage to speak; mute someone; or even end the room. Be careful which option you press!
“Mods”:
The moderators of a room. If you are a moderator, you are a moderator for that room/discussion only. The green bean does not mean that you are a moderator in every room you’re in. Moderators in the top row are generally those who started the room.
The “Clubhouse Clap”:
A way to show love on an audio-only app in which most mics are muted. Cue the “Clubhouse clap” — silent but visible.
If you’re on stage — either as a moderator or as an audience member invited to speak — you will be given an open mic. When you’re not speaking, it’s customary to mute your mic. To show signs of support to others on stage while they are speaking, tap the muted-mic icon several times. This causes your profile image (usually your headshot) to flash quickly, indicating to everyone in the room that you support what the person speaking has just said. You’ll see lots of Clubhouse claps. Note: Only those on stage can clap. If you’re in the audience, you can send direct messages (DMs) via Instagram or Twitter to provide further support, comment, or ask questions. That is optional. Or you can clap in your own mind!
PTR (Pull Down to Refresh):
A quick refresh of the room — an “essential-to-know” feature. While you’re in a room or in the hallway, swipe down on your screen and hold until you see the spinning icon at the top. PTR displays the most recently updated information, including the order of speakers on stage and calendar refreshes. It also allows a number of interactive features to be activated. For example, you can temporarily change your profile photo to participate visually in a discussion. Uses of this feature range from sharing a photo or document for collective feedback to posting a humorous meme. Anyone who sees your profile during the time when you’ve made the temporary change can react to the new image. Don’t forget to change the image back to your profile photo when you’re done.
Lineage/Legacy Line:
The member who first nominated you to become a Clubhouse member, and the degrees of separation between you and the original few hundred Clubhouse members. At the bottom of your profile, the name and photo of the member who nominated you are prominently displayed. That person is a permanent part of your profile. When you view someone’s bio, you can quickly see who nominated that person, with which people the nominator is connected, and to whom the next-level connections are linked — all the way back to the first members. Lineage is important to some members in considering whether to engage with you. Many others members pay it little mind.
Privacy Concerns
When you download Clubhouse from the App Store, you’ll first register to join.
During registration, Clubhouse will ask you to provide your iPhone number (required) and to share all your iPhone contacts (optional). Clubhouse rewards members who share their contacts by giving those members invitations they can use to invite others to join.
You can decline to provide access to your contacts, but if you do that, you’ll lose some of the app’s networking features.
The opt-in contacts policy has rankled some privacy experts, members, and those considering whether to join. Concerns about the integrity of shared contact data remain a barrier to adoption for some.
Will Oremus, a senior writer for Medium’s One Zero and a Clubhouse member (@ willoremus ), recently explored the risks and unintended consequences of sharing your contacts with Clubhouse.
Clubhouse maintains that its privacy protections are robust. The platform’s founders say Clubhouse does not share data with third parties, and that they have no intention of changing that policy in the future. It’s unclear whether or how the contact-request opt-in may change as Clubhouse grows, or if Clubhouse will offer those who don’t share contacts another method of inviting others, such as by email.
What’s important to underscore is that — as of this writing — you can join Clubhouse without sharing your phone contacts. Those members who have agreed to share their contacts with the app and who have your iPhone number in their contact lists will be notified by text that you have registered. They can then “nominate” you to join or further engage with you on the platform.
What’s the Clubhouse Contacts Catch?
There is a drawback to not sharing contacts. You will be unable to use Clubhouse-issued invitations to invite others to the platform, arguably lessening your influence. Clubhouse issues each new member two to five invitations and awards more of them as a member’s platform engagement increases.
Despite that, there’s still plenty to keep members engaged. You can join rooms, request side chats with those you connect with in the Clubhouse app, follow clubs, request membership in clubs, and even apply to start your own clubs. [UPDATE: On March 12, 2021, Clubhouse announced that members could invite others to the platform even if they chose not to share all contacts with Clubhouse. Members can now invite others by providing the phone number (only) of the invitee.]
Gaining Traction on Clubhouse
Establishing a presence on Clubhouse definitely requires an investment of your time. It’s live, drop-in audio. There is a no recording policy for attendees, and there are no transcripts. You have to join the conversation (or listen live) to benefit.
Note: You should consider anything you say on Clubhouse to be public, since some recordings and comments have been shared off platform. If moderators (generally of larger rooms) do record a discussion, they provide notice to attendees at the beginning of the session. Heavily attended Clubhouse-hosted discussions with major influencers such as Musk and Gates are recorded and posted to YouTube.
What I’ve Learned So Far:
· Follow interesting people who speak on stage. Be present and take notes. There’s a bit of a learning curve to engaging on Clubhouse. The invitation-only app is still in beta form. At present, there’s no way to direct message (DM) a member on platform. You can follow someone on Clubhouse, but in order to message someone, you need to go off platform and use direct messaging on Twitter or Instagram accounts. Those are linked within Clubhouse profiles. (Most members have open DMs.)
· Spend time optimizing your Clubhouse profile with a headshot, expertise, and professional and personal interests. On Clubhouse you’ll use your real name. When creating your profile, try to have some fun. Make it visual with emojis. (Remember, they’re searchable.) Do you have an interesting or crazy hobby? Include it. If you have a generic profile, you’ll probably miss out on opportunities to connect.
· If you hear people speak and you’d like to chat off platform, reach out to them when they take the stage or shortly thereafter. If they have open DMs, message them to express opinions about, or gratitude for, something specific they’ve shared, and show a willingness to engage on Clubhouse or off. Once you have established rapport, you can follow one another on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and other platforms, and communicate via text or email.
Tip: When you’re reaching out for networking purposes, don’t forget to mention what topic you heard a speaker discuss. Include the date and time zone of the chat. Members come from all corners of the globe. Many may speak in a number of different rooms during a given day or week. Give them a reference point for your outreach.
· Don’t hog the stage. If you’re invited by a moderator to speak on stage, be respectful of room time limits. Some rooms last for an hour or for 30 minutes or even less. Others are open-ended. Take your cue about how long to speak from those who take the stage before you. If each speaker is talking for an average of one minute, don’t attempt to launch into a three- or four-minute presentation. The moderator will likely cut you off, and you will appear to be lacking self-awareness and consideration for others. In rooms that are smaller and open-ended, you’ll likely be encouraged to speak for a longer period. Take your lead from the room moderator and other speakers.
· Show respect for the opinions of others. Authenticity, trust and fostering a sense of community are fundamental on Clubhouse. Trolling is not tolerated. Members who are disruptive or rude, use hate speech or violate Clubhouse community guidelines can be blocked from certain discussions, suspended, or permanently banned. Clubhouse has a designated team that investigates complaints. That said, trolling does still occur.
· Don’t compare your follower stats to anyone else’s. Disregard your follower-to-following ratio. (I know: heresy!) Clubhouse is a relatively new platform. Everyone starts with zero followers. When deciding whom to follow, ask yourself: “Do I want to hear this person speak again? Would I find getting to know this person worthwhile?” If yes to either, follow that person and click the alarm symbol to the right of their name to be notified when the member is entering rooms or speaking again. You may get a follow in return. If you change your mind, you can unfollow that person later. Note: You can follow only 2,500 Clubhouse members at any given time. That’s deliberate, to prevent spamming.
· Be intentional about your expectations. If you enter a room about venture capital with an audience of 5,000-plus members waiting to hear from major VC influencers, don’t expect to hit the stage unless you have serious cred. If you select a smaller room with 50 to 100 people on a topic such as being a Clubhouse “newbie,” you may have a shot at speaking. Mixing your exposure to large and small rooms will help you become more familiar with the platform and deepen your connection with the Clubhouse community, on and off the platform.
My Early Clubhouse Missteps
Over the past two weeks, I’ve visited dozens of rooms and taken the stage numerous times. I’ve gotten little sleep. (Some chats ran for as long as five hours, until 3:00 a.m. ET.) At times, the learning curve felt steep.
And I certainly experienced my share of Clubhouse confusion and newbie errors.
Among them…
Having no clue what that emoji was in the corner of my profile. Was it an ice cream cone? A bouquet of flowers? I wondered, “Why do others in the room have it too? Are they trying to message me?” I was confused — but initially too embarrassed to ask anyone for clarification. Finally, I learned that it was a party hat for newbies. Thankfully, I’m now hatless.
Seeing blinking profile images on stage and thinking the Clubhouse app was about to crash. I learned only later that those blinking profiles mean members are silently clapping for someone else on stage.
Forgetting to mute my microphone after I finished speaking on stage. One morning after yet another Clubhouse marathon, I moved from the living room to the kitchen and proceeded to make breakfast — complete with clanging bowls and utensils. The moderator asked me, in front of the entire room, to mute my mic. (At least there wasn’t anything audibly embarrassing going on!) A mic fail can easily occur, especially if you’re using wireless earbuds. Be careful.
Early Impressions and Milestones
In two weeks on Clubhouse, I’ve connected with many fascinating people from all over the world. I’ve been accepted to more than 10 clubs. The level of engagement in the rooms has been extraordinary. An influential moderator invited me to a private Clubhouse chat, and, off-platform, I enjoyed a Zoom discussion with another member.
At 1:30 a.m. ET on Friday, February 26, on day 13, I reached a Clubhouse achievement. I was awarded a green bean emoji — allowing me to become a room moderator for the first time. I celebrated the next day with pizza. (I even took a snap!)
What’s Next for Clubhouse
Clubhouse is global, 24/7, and constantly evolving. The platform is buzzing.
In a room on personal wellness practices started by serial founder and tech analyst Jeremiah Owyang (@ jowyang ), I met people from more than a dozen countries. In just two hours, perspectives rolled in from the U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Bali, Canada, and the U.S. It was fascinating to learn how people are caring for their physical and emotional health during a global pandemic. I felt connected and calmed.
As for getting much shut-eye when first joining Clubhouse, if my experience is any guide, the chances are slim. I logged so many hours I’m almost embarrassed. But I know I’m not alone. One Clubhouse influencer admitted that she listens to Clubhouse on wireless speakers while showering so she doesn’t miss anything. I haven’t reached that point. Yet.
The growth and impact of Clubhouse show no signs of slowing. With a long-awaited Android version of the app expected to roll out in the coming months, you can expect to hear a lot more chatter about Clubhouse — on platform and off.
A Heartfelt Thank-You
Many Clubhouse members contributed to this story, either directly by answering my questions and engaging in meaningful discussions or indirectly by providing a shining example of how to moderate thought-provoking and inclusive discussions where people’s voices are valued and heard. I’m looking forward to more conversations.
A special shout-out to the following members (using their Clubhouse usernames). If you join, check these folks out. (Remember: Using the in-app Clubhouse search function, you can find people most easily by using their Clubhouse usernames.)
@ pwilsonrva @ semharrina
@ draj @ kimkarr
@ billysamoa @ abraxas
@ mastertalk @ tiffanyalysa
@ jowyang @ shanefeldberg
@ tonylew @ adamyasmin @ jwstazz
RESOURCES
Top Clubhouse FAQs (compiled by Clubhouse moderator Abraxas Higgins)
Clubhouse Guide (includes Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy)
Using or Changing Your Legal Name and/or Username on Clubhouse
The Changing Landscape of Social Media Engagement (video interview: CNBC’s Squawk Alley)
How It Works: Wall Street Journal Video on Clubhouse & Twitter Spaces
Disclaimer: This story reflects my personal experiences as a new Clubhouse member. It is not meant to be a definitive user’s guide. And it’s certainly not the final word! My goal as a new member is to help others make an informed decision about whether to join Clubhouse — and if so, how to optimize their experience.
