Difference between revisions of "Clubhouse"
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| − | Clubhouse is an audio-chat social-networking application founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth in March 2020.<ref name = "roose"> Roose, K. (2021, February 25). “Can Clubhouse Move Fast Without Breaking Things?”</ref> The platform is currently in its beta stage and uses an invitation based system where existing users have two invites to onboard to new members to download the application. The mobile app allows users to listen and participate in a conversation room usually centering around a specific topic or purpose. Unlike most popular social media platforms, once | + | |NAME=''Clubhouse'' |
| − | + | |HEIGHT=700 | |
| + | |LOGO=Clubhouselogo.jpg | ||
| + | |SCREENIMAGE=clubhouse.jpg|100px | ||
| + | |CAPTION="Clubhouse app icon on a smartphone" | ||
| + | |IMAGEURL=https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1503133294 | ||
| + | |TEXT=Clubhouse | ||
| + | |TYPE=Social Networking App | ||
| + | |LAUNCH=April 2020 | ||
| + | |STATUS=Active | ||
| + | |PLATFORM=iOS | ||
| + | |DEVELOPER=Alpha Exploration Co. | ||
| + | |SITEURL=https://www.joinclubhouse.com/ | ||
| + | |URLTEXT= https://www.joinclubhouse.com/ | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | <br> | ||
| + | '''{{initial|C}}lubhouse''' is an audio-chat social-networking application founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth in March 2020.<ref name = "roose"> Roose, K. (2021, February 25). “Can Clubhouse Move Fast Without Breaking Things?”</ref> The platform is currently in its beta stage and uses an invitation based system where existing users have two invites to onboard to new members to download the application. The mobile app allows users to listen and participate in a conversation room usually centering around a specific topic or purpose. Unlike most popular social media platforms, once a room is closed, live chats in the room disappear and are not recorded. Clubhouse, 11 months after its inception, has grown to over 10 million users and reached a valuation of $1 billion.<ref name = "griffith"> Griffith, E. (2021, February 15). “Clubhouse, a Tiny Audio Chat App, Breaks Through”</ref> In its short lifespan, Clubhouse has garnered the attention of many celebrities who have shown up on the platform, making headlines that added to its buzz among social media users. Social media companies, looking at the success of Clubhouse, have additionally joined in on competing in the growing audio chat space on the Internet. In contrast to its successes, Clubhouse has posed many concerns around its operations regarding handling of user data and the platform's lack of moderation and security.<ref name = "newman"> Newman, L. (2021, February 26). “Clubhouse’s Security and Privacy Lag Behind Its Explosive Growth”</ref> The creators have announced that their goal is to open up Clubhouse in a worldwide release later in 2021.<ref name = "clubhouse_blog"> Davidson, P. (2021, January 24 [https://www.joinclubhouse.com/welcoming-more-voices “Welcoming More Voices”] Clubhouse Blog</ref> | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
=== Creation === | === Creation === | ||
[[File:Clubhouse-website-screenshot.jpg|380px|right|thumb| Clubhouse's invitation system]] | [[File:Clubhouse-website-screenshot.jpg|380px|right|thumb| Clubhouse's invitation system]] | ||
| − | Founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth previously worked on multiple entrepreneurial ventures together. Their most notable was Talkshow, an application that allowed users to hold public text conversations.<ref name = "nguyen"> Nguyen, T. (2021, February 10). “Clubhouse, the invite-only audio app, explained”</ref> Their goal with Clubhouse was to make a social app driven by “conversations rather than posts.” The | + | Founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth previously worked on multiple entrepreneurial ventures together. Their most notable one was Talkshow, an application that allowed users to hold public text conversations.<ref name = "nguyen"> Nguyen, T. (2021, February 10). “Clubhouse, the invite-only audio app, explained”</ref> Their goal with Clubhouse was to make a social app driven by “conversations rather than posts.” The iOS app started off as invitation only, giving each new member 2 invites to send to their friends. |
=== Notable Events === | === Notable Events === | ||
| − | The joining of notable celebrities spiked Clubhouse’s usage since their early development in March 2020. Notable celebrities such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Drake have all joined the platform. Musk | + | The joining of notable celebrities spiked Clubhouse’s usage since their early development in March 2020. Notable celebrities such as [[Elon Musk]], [[Mark Zuckerberg]], and Drake have all joined the platform. Musk notably held a Clubhouse conversation with Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev about the unprecedented rise of GameStop stock <ref name = "nguyen"/>. This incident surpassed the app's conversation room limits and was recorded and livestreamed on [[YouTube]]. |
=== Growing Competition === | === Growing Competition === | ||
| − | The competition for Clubhouse has grown as social media platforms have been actively testing similar audio-based products and functionality. On March 10th, Twitter released a new app update to experiment their new audio based platform Spaces | + | The competition for Clubhouse has grown as social media platforms have been actively testing similar audio-based products and functionality. On March 10th, [[Twitter]] released a new app update to experiment with their new audio based platform: Spaces, which features similar functionalities to Clubhouse.<ref name = "hollister"> Hollister, S. (2021, March 10). “Twitter plans to let anyone start hosting Twitter Spaces in April” </ref> Meanwhile Facebook has additionally been heavily rumored to be building a similar product as well. <ref name = "Isaac"> Isaac, M. (2021, February 10). “Facebook Is Said to Be Building a Product to Compete With Clubhouse”</ref> |
== Features == | == Features == | ||
[[File:Clubhouse-hallway-400.jpg|280px|right|thumb| Clubhouse's Hallway View]] | [[File:Clubhouse-hallway-400.jpg|280px|right|thumb| Clubhouse's Hallway View]] | ||
=== Profile === | === Profile === | ||
| − | Similar to other social media platforms, Clubhouse allows each user to create a profile. Each profile may contain a profile photo, follower and followers count, a small bio, and an @ handle. The application features a plain-text editor not restricting users from adding emoji’s to their profile, direct messaging, and their comments. The application additionally allows users to connect their Twitter and Instagram accounts to help users find | + | Similar to other social media platforms, Clubhouse allows each user to create a profile. Each profile may contain a profile photo, follower and followers count, a small bio, and an @ handle. The application features a plain-text editor not restricting users from adding emoji’s to their profile, direct messaging, and their comments. The application additionally allows users to connect their [[Twitter]] and [[Instagram]] accounts to help users find people to connect with. <ref name = "nguyen"/> |
=== Clubhouse Hallway === | === Clubhouse Hallway === | ||
| − | The Hallway is Clubhouse’s name for their main feed. Here users can find active and ongoing chatrooms to drop into along with the ability to schedule their own room. At the top right corner users have the ability to search for a member, invite new members to clubhouse, view a calendar with upcoming rooms, view their notifications, | + | The Hallway is Clubhouse’s name for their main feed. Here, users can find active and ongoing chatrooms to drop into along with the ability to schedule their own room. At the top right corner, users have the ability to search for a member, invite new members to clubhouse, view a calendar with upcoming rooms, view their notifications, or edit their Clubhouse profile.<ref name = "nguyen"/> |
=== Clubhouse Rooms === | === Clubhouse Rooms === | ||
| − | In Clubhouse rooms are available to access from | + | In Clubhouse, rooms are available to access from The Hallway and users can jump in and out of rooms as long as the room size is under a set limit. The three main roles of users on Clubhouse are Listeners, Speakers, and Moderators. When you first join a Clubhouse room you join as a listener who can listen in on speakers in a room. Listeners can be upgraded to either Speakers or Moderators. Speakers have the ability to mute and unmute their microphone and speak for everyone there, while moderators are given the ability to moderate the room through promoting and demoting user roles. <ref name = "nguyen"/> |
== Unique Uses == | == Unique Uses == | ||
=== Businesses on Clubhouse === | === Businesses on Clubhouse === | ||
| − | Clubhouse actively pushes for big brands and creative collectives to adopt their platform. In December 2020, Clubhouse announced its Creator Pilot Program | + | Clubhouse actively pushes for big brands and creative collectives to adopt their platform. In December 2020, Clubhouse announced its Creator Pilot Program, offering in-house services to help brands produce events and widen their reach. Audio Collective, an audio creator community, is an example of a company that took advantage of this program, offering partnerships with creators and brands to build audio events on the iOS app. <ref name = "lorenz"> Lorenz, T. (2021, March 4). “The Era of Audio Creators Has Arrived” </ref> |
=== China === | === China === | ||
| − | Clubhouse in the early stages of its development, was commonly used by users in China to freely express their opinions against | + | Clubhouse, in the early stages of its development, was commonly used by users in China to freely express their opinions against Chinese government censorship. <ref name = "yuan"> Yuan, L. (2021, March 1). “The Great Firewall Cracked, Briefly. A People Shined Through.” </ref> Many users recount that the non-permanent nature of Clubhouse influenced people to share more personal stories and have conversations with less of a filter. For Chinese users, the range of discussions included many political discussions that were otherwise not allowed on Chinese Internet. The Chinese government eventually blocked Clubhouse on February 8th.<ref name = "china_block"> McDonald, J. (2021, February 9). [https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/china-blocks-clubhouse-app-political-discussion-75770034 China blocks Clubhouse, app used for political discussion] Clubhouse Blog</ref> |
== Ethical Concerns == | == Ethical Concerns == | ||
=== Privacy === | === Privacy === | ||
| − | + | Clubhouse has faced multiple accusations of mishandling user data. In one instance, the Stanford Internet Observatory confirmed that Agora Inc., the company that provides the backend infrastructure for the mobile app, was based out of Shanghai, China. <ref name = "lyons"> Lyons, K. (2021, February 14). “Clubhouse says it will improve security after researchers raise China spying concerns.” </ref>This raised many concerns as Internet traffic indicated that users were still ultimately using the application. Furthermore, many have pointed at Clubhouse's lack of industry-standard security practices which are needed to adequately protect user data. Bloomberg in a recent article highlighted the existence of third-party websites that were web scraping and organizing Clubhouse chatroom audio for later streaming at a different site.<ref name = "tarabay"> Tarabay, J. (2021, February 21). “Clubhouse Chats Are Breached Raising Concerns Over Security” </ref> Clubhouse’s lack of anti-scraping technology meant that virtually anyone could easily record the activity from a public channel. <ref name = "newman"> Newman, L. (2021, February 26). “Clubhouse’s Security and Privacy Lag Behind Its Explosive Growth” </ref> | |
=== Lack of Moderation === | === Lack of Moderation === | ||
| − | Clubhouse’s lax moderation on its platform has | + | Clubhouse’s lax moderation on its platform has encouraged its users to discuss topics that are normally censored on other platforms. Numerous public figures associated with QAnon and other similar extremist groups were early adopters of Clubhouse, using the app to communicate with their supporters.<ref name = "schiffer"> Schiffer, Z. (2020, September 30). “A Clubhouse conversation has sparked accusations of anti-Semitism” Lack of moderation alt right</ref> The app, which is similar to other social media platforms, has continuously struggled with [[misinformation]] campaigns. To mitigate this issue, on March 5th, 2021, Clubhouse updated their community guidelines and released new tools to report specific instances that violated such guidelines. |
| − | Lack of moderation alt right </ref> | + | |
== References == | == References == | ||
| − | {{ | + | {{resource| |
| + | <references/> | ||
| + | }} | ||
Revision as of 20:37, 17 March 2021
|
C
lubhouse is an audio-chat social-networking application founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth in March 2020.[1] The platform is currently in its beta stage and uses an invitation based system where existing users have two invites to onboard to new members to download the application. The mobile app allows users to listen and participate in a conversation room usually centering around a specific topic or purpose. Unlike most popular social media platforms, once a room is closed, live chats in the room disappear and are not recorded. Clubhouse, 11 months after its inception, has grown to over 10 million users and reached a valuation of $1 billion.[2] In its short lifespan, Clubhouse has garnered the attention of many celebrities who have shown up on the platform, making headlines that added to its buzz among social media users. Social media companies, looking at the success of Clubhouse, have additionally joined in on competing in the growing audio chat space on the Internet. In contrast to its successes, Clubhouse has posed many concerns around its operations regarding handling of user data and the platform's lack of moderation and security.[3] The creators have announced that their goal is to open up Clubhouse in a worldwide release later in 2021.[4]
Contents
History
Creation
Founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth previously worked on multiple entrepreneurial ventures together. Their most notable one was Talkshow, an application that allowed users to hold public text conversations.[5] Their goal with Clubhouse was to make a social app driven by “conversations rather than posts.” The iOS app started off as invitation only, giving each new member 2 invites to send to their friends.
Notable Events
The joining of notable celebrities spiked Clubhouse’s usage since their early development in March 2020. Notable celebrities such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Drake have all joined the platform. Musk notably held a Clubhouse conversation with Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev about the unprecedented rise of GameStop stock [5]. This incident surpassed the app's conversation room limits and was recorded and livestreamed on YouTube.
Growing Competition
The competition for Clubhouse has grown as social media platforms have been actively testing similar audio-based products and functionality. On March 10th, Twitter released a new app update to experiment with their new audio based platform: Spaces, which features similar functionalities to Clubhouse.[6] Meanwhile Facebook has additionally been heavily rumored to be building a similar product as well. [7]
Features
Profile
Similar to other social media platforms, Clubhouse allows each user to create a profile. Each profile may contain a profile photo, follower and followers count, a small bio, and an @ handle. The application features a plain-text editor not restricting users from adding emoji’s to their profile, direct messaging, and their comments. The application additionally allows users to connect their Twitter and Instagram accounts to help users find people to connect with. [5]
Clubhouse Hallway
The Hallway is Clubhouse’s name for their main feed. Here, users can find active and ongoing chatrooms to drop into along with the ability to schedule their own room. At the top right corner, users have the ability to search for a member, invite new members to clubhouse, view a calendar with upcoming rooms, view their notifications, or edit their Clubhouse profile.[5]
Clubhouse Rooms
In Clubhouse, rooms are available to access from The Hallway and users can jump in and out of rooms as long as the room size is under a set limit. The three main roles of users on Clubhouse are Listeners, Speakers, and Moderators. When you first join a Clubhouse room you join as a listener who can listen in on speakers in a room. Listeners can be upgraded to either Speakers or Moderators. Speakers have the ability to mute and unmute their microphone and speak for everyone there, while moderators are given the ability to moderate the room through promoting and demoting user roles. [5]
Unique Uses
Businesses on Clubhouse
Clubhouse actively pushes for big brands and creative collectives to adopt their platform. In December 2020, Clubhouse announced its Creator Pilot Program, offering in-house services to help brands produce events and widen their reach. Audio Collective, an audio creator community, is an example of a company that took advantage of this program, offering partnerships with creators and brands to build audio events on the iOS app. [8]
China
Clubhouse, in the early stages of its development, was commonly used by users in China to freely express their opinions against Chinese government censorship. [9] Many users recount that the non-permanent nature of Clubhouse influenced people to share more personal stories and have conversations with less of a filter. For Chinese users, the range of discussions included many political discussions that were otherwise not allowed on Chinese Internet. The Chinese government eventually blocked Clubhouse on February 8th.[10]
Ethical Concerns
Privacy
Clubhouse has faced multiple accusations of mishandling user data. In one instance, the Stanford Internet Observatory confirmed that Agora Inc., the company that provides the backend infrastructure for the mobile app, was based out of Shanghai, China. [11]This raised many concerns as Internet traffic indicated that users were still ultimately using the application. Furthermore, many have pointed at Clubhouse's lack of industry-standard security practices which are needed to adequately protect user data. Bloomberg in a recent article highlighted the existence of third-party websites that were web scraping and organizing Clubhouse chatroom audio for later streaming at a different site.[12] Clubhouse’s lack of anti-scraping technology meant that virtually anyone could easily record the activity from a public channel. [3]
Lack of Moderation
Clubhouse’s lax moderation on its platform has encouraged its users to discuss topics that are normally censored on other platforms. Numerous public figures associated with QAnon and other similar extremist groups were early adopters of Clubhouse, using the app to communicate with their supporters.[13] The app, which is similar to other social media platforms, has continuously struggled with misinformation campaigns. To mitigate this issue, on March 5th, 2021, Clubhouse updated their community guidelines and released new tools to report specific instances that violated such guidelines.
References
- ↑ Roose, K. (2021, February 25). “Can Clubhouse Move Fast Without Breaking Things?”
- ↑ Griffith, E. (2021, February 15). “Clubhouse, a Tiny Audio Chat App, Breaks Through”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Newman, L. (2021, February 26). “Clubhouse’s Security and Privacy Lag Behind Its Explosive Growth”
- ↑ Davidson, P. (2021, January 24 “Welcoming More Voices” Clubhouse Blog
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Nguyen, T. (2021, February 10). “Clubhouse, the invite-only audio app, explained”
- ↑ Hollister, S. (2021, March 10). “Twitter plans to let anyone start hosting Twitter Spaces in April”
- ↑ Isaac, M. (2021, February 10). “Facebook Is Said to Be Building a Product to Compete With Clubhouse”
- ↑ Lorenz, T. (2021, March 4). “The Era of Audio Creators Has Arrived”
- ↑ Yuan, L. (2021, March 1). “The Great Firewall Cracked, Briefly. A People Shined Through.”
- ↑ McDonald, J. (2021, February 9). China blocks Clubhouse, app used for political discussion Clubhouse Blog
- ↑ Lyons, K. (2021, February 14). “Clubhouse says it will improve security after researchers raise China spying concerns.”
- ↑ Tarabay, J. (2021, February 21). “Clubhouse Chats Are Breached Raising Concerns Over Security”
- ↑ Schiffer, Z. (2020, September 30). “A Clubhouse conversation has sparked accusations of anti-Semitism” Lack of moderation alt right
