Clubhouse is ruining my sleep

Discussion Open Forum
22

Right now, definitely yes. With the caveat that you use it wisely…I’m not sure being on it 24/7 is a life improvement (and there are many addicted people who are). I’m averaging about 2 hours a day (probably well below median) and it’s brought a lot of value to me.

If/when the floodgates open, there is a lot of concern that the value could become very diluted. We shall see. But right now the community has done a very good job of self-curating/moderating, and from what I’ve seen about 50% of it is authentic, genuine, high-achieving individuals who are seeking to network and help others (and grow and learn). 40% is authentic, genuine, motivated people who aren’t yet high-achieving, seeking to grow and learn. And maybe 5-10% are bs and inauthentic people pretending to be relevant and have influence. Very different from many of the other social media platforms.

Yeah I felt the exact same, which is why I resisted joining for so long. But it’s actually by far the best social media platform if you dislike the “fakeness.” We will see if that’s because of the platform, or simply because of the exclusivity in the beginning.

Another funny anecdote from last night:

Candace Cameron Bure from Full House stumbled into a room I was in. She apparently had just joined clubhouse a couple hours prior and was learning how it works. The moderators in the room called her up to talk cause they noticed her enter and she was very very sweet and humble and completely caught off guard. It was another cool moment to see a celebrity so genuine and not act polished or pre-packaged in any way. I am sure this type of thing has happened many times over the last few months.

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24

Lol for me it was tori spelling (sp?). Ppl got excited and I was like 𝙬𝙝𝙮? Then Google told me she was on some show way back when

And then Jared Leto came on and it got weird

I left soon after that

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25

Jared Leto is very weird these days. I was definitely a fan of 30 seconds though.

Here’s probably the main reason I got hooked. My very first hour on the app, was last weekend’s “dinner party” that I just randomly joined since it was a very popular room. No idea what was going on, suddenly I see the mayors of miami (where I live), Austin and San Francisco all chatting amicably and without pretense about the exodus of people from San Francisco. Then two partners at andreessen horowitz (big vc firm) were describing why they had each moved to miami and Austin respectively. Then jeff Lawson the twilio founder more or less called out all these wealthy people leaving sf for not doing more to help their community. And Marc benioff, the Salesforce founder, jumped in, taking exception to this and talking about his vision for SF. I listened intently, but also noticed Van jones, Terry crews, and mc hammer all listening in the room as well. Probably a lot of other big names and thought leaders, but those were the ones I noticed at quick glance. Terry Crews chimed in as well, and once again, I loved it cause it sounded extremely casual and unrehearsed, like he wasn’t really planning on saying anything just wanted to hear what everyone else had to say. It was pretty surreal. And also very timely cause I’m working on an in-depth piece about the exodus of wealthy and tech talent from SF.

Also today there was a chat going on about venture capital investment into clubhouse, and Jack Conte (who says he just joined it today) and Sam Yam, the co-founders of Patreon, were speaking. Again it was impromptu, they weren’t among the original panelists but that’s just how it works, people get randomly pinged into rooms when they see other people they know in there. It was cool cause I literally just yesterday listened to the NPR podcast How I Built This that featured Sam and Jack and their journey to create Patreon. And Jack is a pretty well-known musician in his own right, huge on youtube/itunes before he launched a tech giant. Anyway here’s the kicker…my wife got to talk to Jack! I mean, ok, it’s not completely unprecedented for my wife to get to speak to big figures in the business/tech world, but it’s still very cool especially out of the blue like this.

I’ve heard of small indie artists getting to chat with major music execs, early fledgling entrepreneurs connecting with guys like Daymond John from Shark Tank/Fubu…it’s just pretty nice how accessible some big time folks are on this app.

Alright, I’m gonna try to reel it in now and not talk about the app on here anymore. Lol…it’s pretty crazy…just 8 days ago I was rolling my eyes at this supposedly game changing app. And here I am sounding like a superfan.

One definite drawback I see, kinda what I was saying in my earlier post, is that it really favors people who are extroverted and also people who can speak very well. Eloquently, convincingly, intelligently, etc. But really there are lots of smart and talented people who don’t have that gift, or that skill refined yet, and the way clubhouse works doesn’t really play to our (I’m putting myself in that group) advantage.

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26

tik tok seems to give me a lot of inspiration :slight_smile:

27

well i got the app, waiting for someone to invite me

but problem is im a nobody and all my nobody friends are also nobodies and none of them know anybody who is not a nobody…so…

hey what does the app look like? im not even sure i got the right app …story of my life…got on the wrong bus at the wrong time heading in the wrong direction.

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28

I doubt that. Aren’t you in tech? There’s a lot of tech community on there. DM me your phone number and I’ll send you an invite if you want.

29

Old marketing strategy used by FB, the “invite”, need to share your phone number to somebody else to be invited (good for scammers).

If I want to see random people talk, why not just turn on my TV? I don’t know you guys, after work when I arrive home, the only one I want to talk to is my dog and have a moment of peace without BLA BLA BLA around.

I didn’t download your APP, I didn’t even bother to research about this APP, it just sounds awful, everything looks dumb.

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30

Guys your marketing strategy looks like those hookup APPs from early 2000. Old strategy! :rofl:

31

First of all I just wanna be clear this isn’t my app lol. I know I sound like a shill for them but I’m honestly trying to provide fair analysis. They just closed a series B round at over $1B valuation, and I’m curious whether they will prove they deserve unicorn status or not. The pandemic and other circumstances have really helped them tremendously, and as the pandemic eventually subsides and competitors enter the space (twitter eg) we will see whether their growth and high usage maintains.

That said, to answer your question:

Tell me where I can turn on the TV to find Gary Vaynerchuk arguing with Daymond John?

There are four things you need to understand.

  1. these are not random people. These are people that you are seeking to connect with. In many cases it is for networking purposes (business people, investors, artists, politicians, etc), in some instances it is for learning (eg language clubs), and in some cases for fun (dating, live concerts, comedy hours, meeting friends with the same interests).

  2. This is social media. If you aren’t interested in connecting with anyone, this isn’t for you. You probably dislike all social media. Which is totally fair. You just aren’t the target user.

  3. This is interactive. It isn’t for you to turn on the TV and watch people…unless you are turning on the TV and then talking back to those people you’re watching. I mean, you could just listen if you want, that’s probably what some share of users do, but the majority of the value I believe is in the fact that most people can be part of most of the conversations. The majority of rooms are designed for anyone to be able to get up and speak, in a moderated format of course.

  4. This is an audio platform. It seems like most users use it in place of podcast/audio book time. That is, you use it when you’re driving, on the train, out jogging, shopping, walking the dog, etc. TV time is typically isolated to focused watching, or at the very least it is almost always stationary. Clubhouse users seem to hop on while they are out and about. I have not done that…again my usage has probably been around 1 hour per day which is likely wayyyy below median for active users. And I honestly could not imagine it cause right now at least, when I talk to strangers, I’m trying to be very focused, professional, and coherent. But yeah, lots of people on there, especially the well-established, and in some cases big honchos, will be out grocery shopping and sharing their experiences building a $500M company.

Alright, again I’m not a shill for clubhouse. Not everyone or every talk on their is of high value. Some are stupid. Some of the “big, super-successful” guys are dubious in motive/experience/success or controversial (I’ll let you decide for yourself on guys like Tai Lopez or Grant Cardone…who are in there speaking to crowds almost everyday). I’ve started to see MLMs creeping onto the app and who knows what will happen as CH’s growth explodes (they’re starting to give out many more invitations than they did previously, because they have a new cash infusion for more servers and the rumor is they’re targeting March to be available on android) So we will see! But there’s no denying they’ve already had quite an impact.

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32

I was in a room the other day where the topic was a Disney VS Nickelodeon smackdown.

Was it stupid?

No.

Not gonna namedrop but I’ve modded a few rooms with some Hollywood heavy hitters, but that was the best hour I’ve spent on the app so far.

PS. Nickelodeon won though, which was wrong. Firm belief it’s only because at the time the room was mostly populated by older people who were born in the 80s and watched those channels in the 80s and 90s. Most of them completely glaringly neglected content in the 2000s, which was a huge failure because the topic specified pre-2010, so to exclude a whole decade was just a shameful transgression.

Edit: Those trolls were just jealous of Disney’s global success and the theme parks around the world.

33

I used an invite to set up an account for my business.

34

@projectmaximus is your friend! You are officially saved from nobodiness! :rainbow: :happyrunningaround:

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35

lol , however i have not as yet really checked out all the rooms i may have to see that vid again on how to navigate the site.

and who knows whats what over here/there?

still nice to be let in though . its a invite only app? kinda odd/cool

36

still nobody though…but i might take your car (and your girl)

37

So what’s the monetization angle? Selling ads? Selling everyone’s personal data? Building personality profiles to sell later on? Getting people addicted with the free version and then going “freemium” on them? All of the above?

I mean they need to do something to be worth a billion dollars.

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38

Goddammit I am older people

I’m not sure if we’re friends. But of course he’s not a nobody. Literally nobody is a nobody.

Probably selling ads. But I’d imagine they have a dozen possibilities and will just figure it out later on. Kinda like most of the other unicorns, right? Just grow grow grow first, hopefully have an eye on future profitability potential, but don’t really focus on that until way down the line, if ever.

I know right now what they’re saying is that they NEVER want to have corporate account profiles. Anybody who has an account is a human being, a real person who interacts with other real people in an authentic way (although let’s face it, a ton of the people on the app are solopreneurs so while they are a human being they are essentially tiny corporations too).

That said, they did say they would be open to corporate sponsors of the various spaces. Remember this is really like an evolution of podcasts, or a virtual conference/convention. So the way those make money (sponsorships in exchange for airtime, sponsorships to name rooms/shows/clubs, fees to enter certain clubs/rooms/talks) I’m guessing all of these would be fair game.

39

anyone got an invite code they can give me? I wanna give it a shot

40

First come, first served:

3€H0€h@M83R

41

Can’t even use it cos they have already reserved my phone number with a username supposedly. That sucks.

Thanks for the code anyway though

42

Of course, adding monetization for users also introduces a method for Clubhouse itself to monetize. The platform is free to all users and doesn’t yet offer any kind of premium plan or method of charging users, nor is it ad-supported. Adding ways for users to pay other users provides an opportunity for Clubhouse to retain a cut for its services.

The plans around monetization routes for creators appear to be relatively open-ended at this point, with Clubhouse saying it’ll be launching “first tests” around each of the three areas it mentions (tipping, tickets and subscriptions) over the “next few months.” It sounds like these could be similar to something like a Patreon built right into the platform. Tickets are a unique option that would go well with Clubhouse’s more formal roundtable discussions and could also be a way that more organizations make use of the platform for hosting virtual events.