Clubhouse opens its doors to everyone, is anyone rushing to get in?(wired.com)
wired.com
Clubhouse opens its doors to everyone, is anyone rushing to get in?
https://www.wired.com/story/clubhouse-opens-its-doors-is-anyone-rushing-to-get-in/
33 comments
Possibly PR-driven: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
Exactly what I was thinking!
It's fun to read about a wild, unexpected success. It's fun to read about a hype train that crashes and burns. I learned a while ago that I have absolutely no idea what the masses actually like. Twitter still makes no sense to me. I've never opened TikTok. So something like Clubhouse I've decided not to judge and just see what happens.
It was fun for a moment during the pandemic, but after I could be with people again I deleted the app. There was also a non-scalable factor to being on the inside of some of the clubs. Early clubhouse days you'd get to hear important people say things that they wouldn't say in public. By the time I left it was chalk full of grifters.
I too get Quibi vibes when reading about Clubhouse. Quibi and Clubhouse are both really interesting cases of what happens when a service tries to shortcut the normal process of growth and get there faster by just throwing money at the problem.
What I mean by "normal process of growth" is if you look at some of the established tech companies like Dropbox or Facebook (just two off the top of my head), you see that they all had relatively humble beginnings and grew into the companies they are today. With Clubhouse and to a larger extent Quibi, it seemed like these companies are all attempting this corporate experiment where with millions/billions of dollars, you can theoretically shortcut the "humble beginnings" part and go straight to an org with all the trappings of a large company.
So far it seems that it doesn't really work and one problem seems to be is when you go down the normal process of growth, you grow your company around your product or service and that product or service gets better over time (theoretically). The issue i see with all these companies that try to shortcut the process is that while they look to be a well established company from the org chart, their product is still infantile. And IMO unlike shortcutting the process to company growth, you can't really shortcut the process to product growth, because a big part of that process is responding to feedback from users and how the market in general is responding to your product/service, and that just can't be compressed down, no matter how much money you throw at the problem.
And this is where the companies inevitably fail. Because they shortcutted the "org maturity" part and not the "product maturity" part, their massive burn on everything from legal to marketing become unsustainable given how infantile their product is, and the companies either fold or slog on once the marketing dollars have dried up until they too fold or are acquired.
What I mean by "normal process of growth" is if you look at some of the established tech companies like Dropbox or Facebook (just two off the top of my head), you see that they all had relatively humble beginnings and grew into the companies they are today. With Clubhouse and to a larger extent Quibi, it seemed like these companies are all attempting this corporate experiment where with millions/billions of dollars, you can theoretically shortcut the "humble beginnings" part and go straight to an org with all the trappings of a large company.
So far it seems that it doesn't really work and one problem seems to be is when you go down the normal process of growth, you grow your company around your product or service and that product or service gets better over time (theoretically). The issue i see with all these companies that try to shortcut the process is that while they look to be a well established company from the org chart, their product is still infantile. And IMO unlike shortcutting the process to company growth, you can't really shortcut the process to product growth, because a big part of that process is responding to feedback from users and how the market in general is responding to your product/service, and that just can't be compressed down, no matter how much money you throw at the problem.
And this is where the companies inevitably fail. Because they shortcutted the "org maturity" part and not the "product maturity" part, their massive burn on everything from legal to marketing become unsustainable given how infantile their product is, and the companies either fold or slog on once the marketing dollars have dried up until they too fold or are acquired.
Honestly I’ve never used or even been intrigued by clubhouse. To me it sounds like ultra short-form podcasts, which is the opposite of what I am interested in for audio consumption.
Has anyone used it and enjoyed it? I know it gets a lot of hate on HN.
Has anyone used it and enjoyed it? I know it gets a lot of hate on HN.
I got a lot of enjoyment from it, but was during winter, under lockdown, with opportunities for real-world socializing greatly curtailed.
At it's best it's like walking down the hallway of a grand university, able to drop in and out of any of the lectures and seminars in progress, not disturbing anyone but able to contribute if you want.
Lately the reality is more like walking down the main thoroughfare of a low-end shopping mall, flanked by somewhat tacky shops you have no interest in entering. Like you want to find a specialist book store, but everywhere's just selling e-cigs and phone accessories. I haven't really signed in for months.
At it's best it's like walking down the hallway of a grand university, able to drop in and out of any of the lectures and seminars in progress, not disturbing anyone but able to contribute if you want.
Lately the reality is more like walking down the main thoroughfare of a low-end shopping mall, flanked by somewhat tacky shops you have no interest in entering. Like you want to find a specialist book store, but everywhere's just selling e-cigs and phone accessories. I haven't really signed in for months.
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I tried it out, but two main things stood out:
1. The 1x speed was unbearable, which leads to the next point 2. The quality of the conversations was very low for me. The more interesting rooms were packed quickly and there were way too many people who were using the system just for monetization. Before a lot of real conversation started, the moderators would spend about 20 minutes going over their backgrounds and platform, which seemed to be the main point of the conversation. They also seemed to talk in a slow pace that a networker would talk in rather than someone really enthusiastic about their subject matter or even an entertainer.
Some highlights were Tim Dillon trolling on Clubhouse, though (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clTehN8Xnuc)
1. The 1x speed was unbearable, which leads to the next point 2. The quality of the conversations was very low for me. The more interesting rooms were packed quickly and there were way too many people who were using the system just for monetization. Before a lot of real conversation started, the moderators would spend about 20 minutes going over their backgrounds and platform, which seemed to be the main point of the conversation. They also seemed to talk in a slow pace that a networker would talk in rather than someone really enthusiastic about their subject matter or even an entertainer.
Some highlights were Tim Dillon trolling on Clubhouse, though (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clTehN8Xnuc)
They have a lot of problems to solve still to make it a decent content platform, for now it's a huge crapshoot of self-promoters/marketers.
Filtering rooms by language, proximity, rating would be helpful for example.
Nothing great product management can't solve though
Filtering rooms by language, proximity, rating would be helpful for example.
Nothing great product management can't solve though
>Filtering rooms by language, proximity, rating would be helpful for example.
Wow. This should be tablestakes for a company worth 4 billion dollars.
Wow. This should be tablestakes for a company worth 4 billion dollars.
Invite only is cool only if 1. People don't have to wait an eternity to get in 2. You have enough value add to keep the people who are waiting interested.
They left it invite only for a bit too long I think, and the hype disappeared. Could be a fatal mistake for something that relies on network effects. I seem to remember google wave (?) made a similar mistake, but I that was so long ago I can't remember all the details now
Clubhouse was great/innovative around Jan-Mar.
Then the new blocking mechanism was implemented in tandem with their whole "enable creators" motto.
Both destructive initiatives on their own, but especially the whole creator model. Feeds look like spam and/or "programs" are structured and oriented to a creator's platform.
Like a bad vegas conference with emojis.
Then the new blocking mechanism was implemented in tandem with their whole "enable creators" motto.
Both destructive initiatives on their own, but especially the whole creator model. Feeds look like spam and/or "programs" are structured and oriented to a creator's platform.
Like a bad vegas conference with emojis.
I have read about it, but had never been the least bit interested in using it. It seemed like a monumental time waster to join a realtime channel in the hope that someone will say something of interest. The entire idea seems to be an assumption that people's time is worth nothing.
In any case, I noted that it was available for everyone, and I was curious as to whether my initial impression of the service was correct so I installed it. When opening the application I was greeted by a screen where I was expected to enter my phone number.
For me to share my phone number, the service has to be worth it. I have yet to see any indication that clubhouse is worth my time and phone number.
In any case, I noted that it was available for everyone, and I was curious as to whether my initial impression of the service was correct so I installed it. When opening the application I was greeted by a screen where I was expected to enter my phone number.
For me to share my phone number, the service has to be worth it. I have yet to see any indication that clubhouse is worth my time and phone number.
I had an invite a while back and got on there. The concept seemed cool, but the content felt like the worst of web in voice format. It could be just that I was in the wrong rooms (I only checked out a few that were recommended).
Joscha Bach often said he had something on (closed) Clubhouse, and I assumed it meant he had a sponsorship or something and and had sold out - because closing doors is not how you reach people.
I've been trying to figure out what clubhouse's advantage is over something like google meet. Still puzzled by it. Is it because clubhouse is mobile-first (and ios-only)?
It is available also on Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.clubhouse....
Clubhouse chats can have anyone join the audience.
Unconcernedly letting this platform come and go. Listening to real-time audio has never been a favored info ingestion mode for me. Sounds like a porn site anyway.
Are clubhouse conversations recorded?
I don't believe it's a native feature, but people have recorded them.
No.
It’s like the return of call-on talk radio shows - in that if you don’t tune in at the specified time, you completely miss it.
I haven’t joined any clubhouse sessions that were worth moving my life around. Unlike podcasts which can fit in multiple places in my life.
Precisely. Some of the conversations look interesting but I can't put my life on hold. It's a missed opportunity IMO to get more engagement.
Yes, there are plenty of recordings on youtube
I only joined clubhouse to join Tim Dillon's rooms such as "should women allowed to own bitcoin"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clTehN8Xnuc
I think Clubhouse would be better if it was anonymous.
I've never heard of this until today.
It kind of looks like Quibi to me, it's obvious that it's not going to be a big hit or maybe even be around in a year. (It was also obvious to me that Snapchat was going to fail, so what do I know?)