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The New Clubhouse — Clubhouse has reinvented itself as an audio messaging app.
Clubhouse is back. The app that popularized social audio rooms is reinventing itself “to be more like a messaging app” with new voice-only group chats called “chats,” as detailed in a blog post from the company.
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Top Hunter
From Odeo to Anchor and then OG Clubhouse, social audio continues to try to find its niche, and messaging might be the necessary wedge to drive engagement, but how will Clubhouse drive awareness and distribution in this market? Audio messaging is all but a commodity at this point.
Will teens flock to this iteration of social audio?
@chrismessina do you think the intention is to go after teens though? the product itself to me feels like it's targeted at a slightly older audience
Top Hunter
@cristinaibunea mm, yeah, I agree — but typically the secret of growth in social is to go after the younger demographic to keep a steady stream of new users... so if it's not teens, is Paul basically the target user persona? :)
I think live/social audio was in a kind of stagnant place. And it was tough if we compare audio content, as an audience member, to podcasts and radio, Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces both struggle. So I think it’s a wise decision to experiment with a new format that is still audio-first. I think there’s still space for an audio-centric social media app and it seems to me Clubhouse is the player with the most dedication and wisdom for the medium.
The new Clubhouse versions looks pretty clean and intuitive. However, I'm curious to see if it can regain the momentum it had when the app was pioneer in the voice-messaging space back in 2020.
Personally, I believe that Clubhouse still can recapture the market even though there are a handful of competitors but I would like to hear fellow community members' thoughts on this.
@chrismessina I'm referring to recapture the social audio market. The market-space with focus on audio-messaging/voice messaging apps such as Clubhouse, Facebook Audio Rooms, Twitter Spaces etc.
Top Hunter
@moingshaikh do Facebook Audio Rooms still exist? I know X Spaces still exist, but they're mostly for crypto [scams] and QAnon followers these days.
@chrismessina agreed about Facebook Audio Rooms. However, I am not too sure about X Spaces. I am of the opinion that they are still used and relevant (not as widely as before, though) among social audio community.
Very interesting @aaronoleary but I am really sceptical they can recapture that magic. The world seems to have moved on.
Time will tell...
Aah! The new changes are interesting. Feels like a better Snapchat without videos! 😉
However, I loved Clubhouse for how it let us speak and host those unrestricted audio rooms. Been using its alternative application Breakout Audio on my phone. The good old days - posts, likes, communities, and more!
I hope Clubhouse will make the app cool again with the new update!
Lots of platitudes I see here, probably placating thr VCs who got duped into supporting them during the ridiculous first round of hype. Audio is a one way, max two way, channel. Plus every existing messaging and social platform already has audio. This has no chance.
Big shift from its live synchronous + follower model to async + friend model.
The UX is very intuitive and clean. It delivers that feeling of running into a friend at an event.
I shared some thoughts about this on Airchat, another async audio network. The two apps have similar functionality but very different graph models. Clubhouse is friend-focused where Airchat is interest-focused. They both serve different use cases, although long term the two will likely expand to compete with one another.
Curious to hear other's take on this! What's your first impression of the new Clubhouse?
@rrhoover I gravitate towards the AC use case, but I'm a fan of the design paradigm Clubhouse introduced with the new update—it really does feel like a social gathering.
@rrhoover I feel awkward initiating the conversation with my friends like this. Maybe if they can create a compelling prompt or find a way to gamify it, it could help overcome that.
Maybe prompt a spicy question among your friends each day. The answer with the most likes wins the prize for that day.
I don't know. I just don't think raw async voice messages will work. It needs some structure.
But kudos to them for the willingness to pivot from sync voice chat when it was not working.
@rrhoover early but I kinda love it! It's like texting but higher bandwidth. In a way it kinda reminds me of Honk https://www.producthunt.com/prod... in that it adds a dimension to text. (Honk: realtime, CH2: higher bandwidth).
Product Hunt