Clubhouse gives me a little the same feeling as when I got to Linkedin in 2002 and Facebook in 2006. Pål Hetland describes Clubhouse well on Linkedin: Smuglying. I read about Clubhouse the first time on Linkedin Through Andrew Chen. When I registered, it was Astrid Valen Udvik as ‘nominal’ me. I got a sense of exclusivity.
I thought Clubhouse is fascinating for three reasons:
Clubhouse is the first audio-based social network
Clubhouse is as far as I know the first audio-based social network. The service combines elements of podcast, webinar and social networks and Snapchat. You can smuggle to what you're interested in and it's probably easier to moderate than other social networks. I imagine Clubhouse can eat a bit of the time people spend on radio, conference, teaching, meetings, coffee chats, etc. Time will show!
Clubhouse has chosen a smart growth strategy
Clubhouse has chosen an interesting growth strategy. As many previous successes (Gmail, Spotify), Clubhouse has chosen to use the beta strategy, i.e. You must be invited to join us. They've used a new twist on it. When you register to get on the waiting list, they will find out who you know that is already registered. The moment you register on the waiting list, the ones who already agree to the "nominator" will be informed to you. It creates an exclusive sense of exclusivity.
Clubhouse is also likely to have taken a good time with regard to the concept of magic moment, i.e. they quickly get new users to the point of the service where you see the value of the service. At Facebook magic moments occur to new users at the moment they see the faces of their friends. The faster a new service provides the user with a magic moment, the faster the growth of the service.
When I logged into Clubhouse the first time, I got to hear the voice of BJ during the first 10 minutes. Fogg, someone I first met in 2009 when I showed him around Oslo in connection with his talks on Web Days 2009. BJ Fogg. is one of the world's leading researchers in behavior and technology. I also heard the voice of Gary Vaynerchuck the first time I was in. Can Clubhouse become a meaningful social network that actually makes the world better?
Clubhouse has solid investors
There are still new services coming on the market. Most services never take, but Andreessen Horowitz, founded among others. Netscape foundations Marc Andreesen, a robust investment scroll. Their portfolio includes Pinterest, Facebook, Asana, Instagram, Slack, etc. Based on what I know about Clubhouse (I don't know so much for now), I think the company will succeed.
Click here if you want to test out Clubhouse (preliminary only available on iPhone)
Twitter has launched Twitter Spaces, a competitor to Clubhouse