Why I’m Not Sleeping on Clubhouse
The Clubhouse app is all the new craze. I received an invite to test out the beta version about a month ago and I wanted to share my thoughts. The app is a way for users to attend live webinars happening at all hours of the day. Users can look through a list of events or “clubs” and jump in and out of these clubs covering a wide variety of topics. You can even get involved in the conversation by raising your hand and asking questions to the hosts. So far, it’s been great for networking and for a number of reasons that LinkedIn does not currently address.
LinkedIn revolves around connecting, but with professionalism in the driver's seat. What do I mean by this? On LinkedIn, it’s become the norm to connect during business hours, to only share your professional opinions, and to grow a network based on the people you already know. Clubhouse is challenging these networking norms and I’m here to share the inside scoop.
Utilizing voice as the main method of connection:
There’s no denying that voice is slowly but surely taking over different aspects of our everyday lives. The app utilizes the power of voice and amplifies it through storytelling and building brands. It provides a platform and an easy way for people to share their opinions and expertise by simply talking about their brand or what they have to offer. This allows the user to directly share and engage with their audiences in real-time. This whole idea of listening to other people in a live and raw environment seems way more genuine than the carefully crafted posts we all see on LinkedIn.
Focusing on a specific area of networking: events.
While LinkedIn has an events feature and you can save events to attend later on, it doesn’t utilize this feature nor is it the main focus of their platform. ClubHouse focuses on events as the main source to network and it’s just niche enough that it could perform really well. You plug in your interests and the app suggests events to you. Networking is no longer a game of researching or who you know in order to get invited to networking events. This makes it easy for you to network with anyone from around the world on a wide variety of topics that interest you.
Increased accessibility to networking.
There are always sessions happening with ClubHouse at all hours of the day, just as people can post on social media whenever they want. This breaks the “work hours” networking norm. The “work hours” networking norm is this idea that we can only connect during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9 AM- 5 PM). Unfortunately, not everyone has the time to connect during the workday because they are busy working. It also creates a stigma around networking in general that when forming relationships, it always has to be within professional parameters and this diminishes the importance of forming relationships in the first place — for the authentic human connection.
Authenticity as a means to make meaningful connections.
Your Clubhouse can be as authentic as you make it. You can be your true and raw self and engage with whomever you would like for both professional or personal purposes. Follow the speakers and clubs you are most interested in and this will craft your experience on the app. Instead of the algorithm being in control of us, we control the content we want to see. This is incredibly powerful and especially so when it comes to networking because it revolves around common interests and shared values, not what companies want us to see or buy.
This authenticity is also incredibly attractive for younger generations who tend to trust brands that are more meaningful in their approach and transparent in sharing insightful information.
Things that remain to be seen…
- How people are able to scale the app for business.
- Opinion and self-brand overload could be the downside of this app.
- Lack of video capabilities and whether or not this will grab and keep our attention.
- How the algorithm will change once the app moves off of beta (will there be paid opportunities and how this will affect how the users engage).
