Back in 2022, Alpha Exploration Co. launched an app that made many speculate about its success, mainly because it eliminated all the visual elements, which are believed to make an app popular.
Clubhouse is a social media platform based on audio-chat, that resembles the format of radio, live podcasts, or conference calls. Users are able to talk to their friends and people they personally know, but they are also able to listen to thought leaders from a variety of industries. At least, that´s what it was intended to do.
When the app launched, its exclusivity (you could only create an account and participate through an invitation) made it desirable for a lot of users. In February 2021, they reached 10 million users on the platform, even with it only being available for iPhone users.
However, after opening the app up to Android users, their numbers didn´t grow. In fact, according to Business Insider (2021), downloads were down 90% by April 2021. In an attempt to raise the number of downloads and popularity, Clubhouse opened the app to everyone, meaning that you didn´t need an invite to participate.
Unfortunately, that didn´t work and people lost interest in the app. Here are some reasons why this could have happened:
Lack of moderation.
When there is a lack of content moderation, there will be a lot of misinformation and content considered as “trash”. This started to happen in a lot of conversation rooms, spreading fake news or misinformation, and Clubhouse’s poor content moderation policies did little to contain it.
Lockdown restrictions being lifted.
One of the reasons why Clubhouse gained popularity among users was because people were on lockdown and could rarely leave their houses and were looking for new ways of connecting with people. Clubhouse offered that, but as people returned to their everyday lives, the number of active users went down.
People got bored.
This may or may not be the app´s fault, but some speculated that the younger generation (Gen Z) found it difficult to focus in a room filled with people talking about different things. This also has to do with content curation, which Clubhouse hasn´t figured out yet. For an app to succeed, it’s important to filter out incorrect information and select content that actually makes sense to users.
Is Clubhouse dead?
No. Although many people would disagree. The truth is, the app started as a great idea but certain aspects were poorly executed. Clubhouse will most likely live on as a niche network for special interest groups.
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