Tag Archives: Clubhouse

Meet the New Clubhouse Where Social Messaging Meets Voice

September 7, 2023 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Clubhouse, once the talk of Silicon Valley and the darling of pandemic-era social media, is undergoing a transformation. Earlier this year, the company announced layoffs of half its staff as it embarked on creating “Clubhouse 2.0.” Now, the results of this shift are in, and it’s all about making Clubhouse more like a messaging app.

The shift means moving away from its iconic “drop-in” audio conversations to focus on voice chats centred around friends. Instead of large, open rooms for live-streamed discussions, the new Clubhouse encourages users to form groups with people they already know. These groups, somewhat perplexingly named “chats,” enable friends and friends-of-friends to exchange voice messages.

From Forum to Personable Chats

The key feature of this update is “Chats.” Think of Chats as voice-only group chats with your closest friends. They’re asynchronous, so you can drop in and participate at your convenience. It’s like a blend of group texts and Instagram Stories, except with voices.

Chats come with convenient features like push-to-talk, 2x listening speed, skip and swipe between chats, and the option to engage in private voice conversations. What sets them apart from group texting is speed and personalization. Chats are faster, allowing groups to share more, including nuances and off-the-record content, with automatic transcription and translation into your language.

Voice adds a personal touch that text can’t match. You can hear your friends’ emotions, and laughter, and even sense when they’re tired or excited. It’s about getting to know people on a deeper level.

Chats can be set to “friends only” or “friends-of-friends,” creating a cosy social atmosphere with shared context and accountability. No randoms, spammers, or follower seekers here.

Changing from Followers to Friends

Live audio isn’t going away; it remains a core part of Clubhouse. However, Chats offer a versatile tool for community builders, enabling new conversations without the need for extensive preparation or moderation. It’s all about depth over reach.

Clubhouse is also shifting from a “follow” model to a “friend” model. This change emphasizes the importance of real friendships over accumulating followers. Existing followers won’t lose their connections; they can create a House for their followers right from their profiles.

The motivation behind this pivot is clear. Clubhouse witnessed a significant drop in engagement as pandemic restrictions eased. Whether this new direction can bring back the buzz it enjoyed in 2021, when it attracted millions of users and a multi-billion-dollar valuation, remains uncertain. Clubhouse, seemingly aware of the challenges, concluded its announcement with a touch of caution, stating, “It’s a big bet, and we hope we’re right…”

Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Spotify Live is Being Put Down

April 4, 2023 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Spotify launched their Greenroom in response to the astronomical rise in the audio-only social media app that is Clubhouse. Greenroom works exactly like the Clubhouse app, except that it is a smear of green and black on your display compared to the grey, yellow, and white interface of the Clubhouse app. It was not an in-house development from Spotify as many though it was. It was birthed from Spotify’s acquisition of Betty Labs and its app, Locker Room. Later on in its life, it is named Spotify Live.

The hype for Clubhouse was a real one. It was a huge thing during the pandemic and everyone wanted to be on the platform or get involved in one way or another. At some point Facebook and Twitter were teasing their own audio-only social media platform. As the world would come to realise, the Clubhouse hype was short-lived.

No matter, Spotify still sees value in the concept. You can hardly blame Spotify though, they hold the largest podcast library in the world currently, even ahead of Apple and Google Podcast. They see value in ‘live’ radio like shows for their platform. At some point they even wanted to integrate the platform into the main Spotify app just to give users a more direct and centralised access to “live podcast shows”. They even introduced some Spotify Live exclusive shows.

It seems like that will also not be happening as reported by Music Ally. The signs were all painted on the walls though. By the end of 2022, Facebook had pulled its own version of live audio off the plug. Even Spotify Live was struggling to keep interests on their platform and had to cancel a few of their own exclusive shows. The next step, obviously, was to close off the app and probably integrate the platform into the main Spotify app. As it turns out, that might not happen too.

The Verge has reached out to Spotify on integrating the app into the main Spotify app and mentioned that the spokesperson was a little coy about it. They mentioned that “Spotify Live is shitting down completely”. There was also mentions of more investments and further innovations, but that was not necessarily specific to Spotify Live and live audio platforms.

Spotify’s spokesperson also mentions that they still see value in original fan created contents. They also see value in “listening parties”. In that case, it seems like Spotify might explore more of that in the future. You might be able to expect “live concerts” or “live sessions” on Spotify in the future. They have technically done that before when they relaunched the Spotify Live app in 2022 with a Swedish House Mafia listening party.

Thing is, as revealed by Music Ally, live streaming and broadcasting is not exactly a terrible business to be in. As YouTube and Twitch have proven that live videos works and is in a good place. Amazon Music has invested in live video shows that focuses on music alongside Twitch. Apple Music also offers access to select live radio stations. Stationhead, a startup, managed to grow in the space and now they are hosting live release parties on their own.

We are still expecting Spotify to add the Spotify Live feature on their main app. It will not look like the Spotify Live app we know today. We will not see random chat rooms or ‘Live Rooms’ where you can participate in the chat or discussion topic of the day. You will definitely see more ‘listening parties’ within the app though, or even something that resembles a live radio show with music like Stationhead’s initiative. For now, long live Spotify Live, we cannot say that we will miss you because we have not exactly been active on the app anyway.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Social Media

Now You Can Pin Links in Your Clubhouse Rooms

October 26, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

No matter what you say or whichever platform you say is better as a social voice chat platform, Clubhouse will still be ranked on top in terms of popularity and utilisation. It is also one of the platforms that consistently innovates in its space, even compared to the likes of Spotify Greenroom, or Facebook’s Live Audio Rooms. That is why, from time to time, Clubhouse introduces a new update that changes the way or expands the way you use clubhouse and interact with your friends on the platform.

With the most recent update, Clubhouse is making it possible for users to share external links. While this does not directly allow on-platform monetisation, it does allow some form of monetisation for plenty of users. For example, users now can pin Patreon links. There is even a possibility of linking Kickstarter and Indiegogo project links to the Clubhouse rooms that users create to talk about their latest projects, or pain points for example. For a lot of content creators, it is now possible to include their YouTube channel links, Podcast links, their own curated website, news portals, and even news articles.

There are of course limitations to what sort of links you can pin on the top of the room. Obviously, porn is frowned upon, so you cannot post links to porn websites to any rooms, even if you are talking about explicit subjects or the likes. Obviously as well, OnlyFans is one of those sites that are banned from Clubhouse link pinning feature.

As far as transactions that happens within the links, Clubhouse claims that they will not be taking any cuts or commissions from them. With that, Clubhouse is saying that they are working on multiple things to allow content creators on the platform to monetise their own contents on the app itself. The feature will be available soon on iOS and Android versions of the app. Clubhouse is available for free on both iOS and Android via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store respectively. For more information on Pinned Links feature on Clubhouse, you can find out more on their blog.

iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

More Apple Spatial Audio! This Time on Clubhouse!

August 30, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Apple’s Spatial Audio is sure making its rounds. In the previous weeks, the excellent virtual surround sound audio technology makes its way into Netflix apps for the iPhone and iPad. You can now use your Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods Max with Spatial Audio when watching Netflix on your iPhone or iPad. It does make sense too, in a sense. You get more immersive experience from your pocket devices.

Spatial Audio is nothing new though. Apple has implemented their own 360 virtual audio technology in they own apps. Apple’s Music app has embraced the surround sound technology since the beginning. Even Apple’s Apple TV+ has integrated the technology for a while now. The feature will be coming to other apps like Spotify eventually, of course you do have to wait for the clever developers to tinker with the technology and its algorithms a bit more.

There is one other app that just got Spatial Audio for their app though. That app in question is Clubhouse. They announced this milestone on their Twitter page, very much like any respected app organisation on Social Media platforms. Now is the time you start asking; “why?”

Hear ye, hear ye 🔊 spAAaAaAatial audio on Clubhouse!

It’s like surround sound, but w/ your own headphones. A more vibrant, human experience! Plus makes it much easier to tell who’s talking.

thanks to @juberti for this one 👏 rolling out now on iOS, Android coming soon! pic.twitter.com/Zit6F9ijRK
— Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) August 29, 2021

Again, surround sound technology is not exactly new. The technology does add a bit more in terms of realism in films. In Music, it adds a sort of depth perception of a recording studio, or stage. The technology puts your right in the middle of the action. In the case of Clubhouse, while you might argue that the reason the developers added Spatial Audio feature to the app on Apple devices is “because they can”, it is a bit more than that.

Yes, over the internet, you are getting high-quality voice calls from Clubhouse itself. It is the next best thing to hanging out with a bunch of people physically. At the same time, you are connecting with so many people from all over the world. You can just sit in a ‘club’ with hundreds of people all from different regions of the world practically.

While that is already impressive enough, there is a way to make it better. Yes, the answer to that is surround sound. Again, surround sound is more than just an entertainment technology. It can add a perception of space and depth around you with the right headphones. That is exactly what Clubhouse is trying to achieve here. They wat to add that sense of perception, that sense of realism.

The addition will also mean that Clubhouse is realty now the next best thing in terms of hanging out with your friends in this trying times. It may not make you choose clubhouse over other similar platforms at this time. It does add some sense of intimacy with other clubhouse users and friends on the platform though. You would really feel like you are talking to the person next to you.

The update is now rolling out for the Clubhouse app on iOS. There are still limitations to its implementation which also means you might not hear that much in difference when you get on the app, especially on Bluetooth audio. Clubhouse, on their Twitter post is also saying that Android will get its fair share of Spatial Audio soon. Clubhouse is now available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Android, iOS, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Clubhouse is Now Out of Beta! What Does That Mean?

July 22, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Clubhouse became the rage late last year when Elon Musk decided to host a conversation and discussion on the platform. It became the biggest social media fad since Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat joined the party too in 2020. To be fair, Facebook is getting a little old, and people are getting a bit bored by it. It is still one of the foremost social media platforms, do not get us wrong. It is a place for absolutely everything you can imagine, from making friends, getting trades, source of daily news, to even getting dates.

Clubhouse is a unique platform though. Unlike the usual social media platforms which are heavy on visuals and are mainly visual based platforms, Clubhouse is purely audio based. Unlike most platforms as well, which stores or records your media for at least the next 24 hours, Clubhouse does not have audio recording built-into the platform. That also means that once you miss a session on Clubhouse, you missed it.

It also comes in a time where the need for human interaction is at an all-time high. The whole pandemic situation around the world has isolated us in an unprecedented rate. Working from home and not being able to interact with people as normally as we can has taken a toll on everyone. On Clubhouse, some normalisation can be achieved by naturally talking to your friends or meeting new people on the platform on subjects that you can relate to.

It started out as an iOS exclusive as well with the Android version released a bout a month ago. While Android users have to content with plenty of missing contents and features from the beta app compared to the iOS version, they were pretty much warned about the beta status. What a lot of other people do not realise though, is that while the app has existed for a year or so, the app was still in Beta mode.

That also explains the fact that you can only be invited to the app instead of simply signing up on the platform and get access to all the contents that the platform has to offer. With the Beta status taken off and finally launching in full, Clubhouse’s invite only exclusivity will be removed. Anyone in the waiting list with no invite will immediately get full access to Clubhouse’s various contents and curation.

Aside from the no waiting list update, there are a few things that is released with the updated Clubhouse. To celebrate the Japan Olympics, users can now add a national flag to their bio. There is a new icon to the app as well as part of the update.

Clubhouse, so far, is still the most popular platform of its kind. That has not stopped companies like Spotify, Facebook, and even Discord to try to get in on the Slack action with their own version of an audio chat platform though. While newer platforms like Spotify’s Greenroom may do a few things better than Clubhouse, the platform is fairly new and might take some time to stick compared to clubhouse.

Clubhouse is now available for free on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. As mentioned, there are no more waiting list to get on the platform, so signing up and getting to the contents is just as simple as signing up on the platform itself with your mobile number. As far as we are concerned, the only downside to the platform is that the account is tied to your mobile number.

Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Clubhouse to be Available on Android Worldwide by Friday!

May 17, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Last week we saw Clubhouse finally taking the plunge into Android. The blogpost from Clubhouse themselves, dated 9^th May 2021 said that they will be pushing into the Android market with a Beta app starting with their home market, the United States of America. Apart from their home market though, they said they will be pushing into other English-speaking markets in the coming weeks.

We thought that we will only get Clubhouse in two to four weeks. To be fair, while Malaysia is considered a major English-speaking nation, English is not necessarily our first language if we are being politically correct. In that case, we were guessing that nations like Singapore and probably India to get Clubhouse first before Malaysia. India mostly because of its population density and the various Android devices that the market houses as well. The large and diverse sample sizes could prove useful for the Clubhouse development team in bug testing, stress testing, and even diagnosing porting issues.

We were proven wrong though. Just a week in and Clubhouse announced that the rest of the world will be getting Clubhouse on their Android devices. According to their twitter post that is about 14 hours old, the Clubhouse version of Android will see the light of day in Japan, Brazil, and Russia by Tuesday; that is tomorrow. Nigeria and India will see the Clubhouse app by Friday morning. The rest of the world will get the app by Friday too, albeit in the afternoon. Our prediction that India might get the stuff sooner than Malaysia did sort of come true.

Clubhouse on Android, as per mentioned last week, is still in Beta stage though. There will still be some bugs on the app, and we can expect the Android app to not have all the features available to users from the iOS camp. We are expecting improvements to come over the coming months to bring the Android version of the app to what the iOS users are already familiar with though. The only function we do not expect to make it into the Android app in Malaysia at least is their payments function. That feature is also not available on Clubhouse on iOS in Malaysia too.

You can expect Clubhouse to gain traction quickly in the Android playing field too. Despite other social media giants like Twitter and Facebook launching their own Clubhouse-like features, they have not gained the traction to match Clubhouse and therefore proved unpopular among users. But of course, there is one thing that might prevent a large influx of Android users into Clubhouse though. Clubhouse remains an invite-only platform. For you to start an account with Clubhouse and join conversations, you must have an invite from your friends already on the platform.

There are also issues and controversies raised surrounding the app itself too. There are issues concerning its security and privacy at some point. The app has also been criticized for not being friendly to the hearing-impaired community. The app is still quite young though; it is barely a year old, to be fair. There is still plenty to improve on at this point. Currently, the app has focused a little more on creators with plans to fund over 50 audio shows on Clubhouse as part of an accelerator program. They are also planning to introduce in-room tipping for creators, paid events, and even subscriptions into Clubhouse soon. Live podcasting from us anyone?

Android, Lifestyle, Mobile, News, Social Media

Clubhouse Coming to Android After More Than a Year in iOS Exclusivity.

May 10, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

There was a debate that raged on a bit in a certain new and upcoming social media app. The app was valued at US$ 4 Billion (MYR*) at its most recent fundraiser too. That social media platform is Clubhouse, and the debate was whether or not Clubhouse should remain an iOS exclusive platform.

For over a year, Clubhouse has remained exclusive to iOS. That is not without good reason though. Developing on iOS is a little more straightforward because there is not a tonne of scaling to work with, everything is based on roughly the same hardware architecture. You do not have to take different versions of iOS and iPhone devices into account either, the SDK will do its job and standardise experience across all iPhone devices. Obviously, with the amount of Android devices out there for different market segments, things become a little more complex when you want to develop on Android. This was the case of WhatsApp on iOS and Android all over again.

Still, the voice based social network app has been one of the most popular apps since the pandemic broke out and everyone in the world is expected to stay at home and lock themselves up. It gave people another way to stay connected with the rest of the world. It gave way to Elon Musk to connect with other people from other parts of the world without physically meeting them. Elon Musk could be one of the reasons why Clubhouse blew up too.

Still, because Clubhouse was a thing, Android users are now asking for the feature on their devices. Clubhouse also have been reportedly working on its Android app for some time now. Earlier in the year Clubhouse finally announced that they are going to put Clubhouse in Google’s Play Store. This week, they came through in the United States of America (U.S.A.).

The Clubhouse app is now in open Beta state in Google Play Store. While that means you get access to the most basic functions of Clubhouse like joining a chat room and moderate a chat for example, there are still some things that users on Android will not get access to for the time being. For one, Android users will not be able to report someone else for now. That feature will come soon though according to Clubhouse.

Translation and localisation will not yet be available as well on the Android version. Understandably, Clubhouse on Android is still limited to the U.S. and will be rolling out to other English-speaking regions within these few weeks. You cannot create club or manage any clubs at the moment too with the Beta version of Clubhouse on Android. You can read the full list of missing features on Clubhouse’s FAQ page.

The team behind Clubhouse is also noting that they will be collecting feedback from the community on the app. In the coming weeks, the team will be fixing all kinds of bugs and add more features before finally releasing the app properly on Google Play Store as a full app. The only thing that they have not changed their stance on is the invite-only system. You have to be invited into the app to sign up for an account. Signing up for the app is free though.

The Clubhouse app will be available in Beta in the U.S. region for now. As Mentioned the app will roll out in other English-speaking regions soon after. If you are keen to get on the platform with existing invites at hand, you can head over to Google Play Store to register as an interested user and be the first Android user when it becomes available in your region.

News, Social Media

Attack of the Clubhouse Clones – Spotify, LinkedIn & Discord Enter the Foray

April 1, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Clubhouse is arguably the largest buzz word in social media right now. The audio only social media app has been in the news thanks to technopreneurs like Elon Musk. That said, the platform has gained momentum due to its ability of bringing like-minded people together to speak and interact. The platform has become somewhat of a sanctuary for those looking for fun conversations, support and even escape – the three things that people are sorely lacking during the pandemic.

Thanks to the popularity of Clubhouse, we’ve seen a slew of other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram come up with their own takes on the concept. The most recent was the launch of Instagram’s Live Rooms and Twitters Spaces. The latter launched earlier this month. Twitter’s Space rolled out to iOS and a limited number of Android users when it was initially discovered; many of whom were unable to host their own Spaces. However, it looks like more of us will be able to host Spaces and soon.

If Twitter isn’t your groove, it looks like Discord has rolled out a new feature called Stage Channels which bring the same features to the forefront of the platform. The new Stage Channels allow users to have and sit in on live, moderated conversations. Unlike its normal channels, Stage Channels highlight the speakers while others join in the conversation as part of the audience. Audience members will have access to a raise hand button which allows them to indicate to the moderators that they wish to speak. Moderators will also be able to invite audience members to speak. Yep – that’s pretty much Clubhouse on Discord. However, the biggest difference between what Discord is doing is that the Stage Channels feature is available across all versions of their app now.

Spotify, on the other hand, isn’t reinventing the wheel. Instead, the company has acquired Betty Labs, the company behind the live sports audio app, Locker Room. The app is already available on iOS and will be making its way to Android in the near future. It will also serve a wider range of audiences with the topic focus expanding from only sports talk. The company sees the app as a natural complement to the Spotify app allowing creators to interact directly and in real-time with their audiences.

According to a statement from Gustav Söderström to The Verge, Chief R&D Officer at Spotify, the app will remain separate from the main Spotify app. However, it will be rebranded in the near future. The app will also allow all users to host their own session – not just approved users. With users already uploading recordings of their sessions on Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces to Anchor, Spotify’s podcast publishing tool. It looks like the app will streamline the process allowing users a more unified experience and feed the growing podcast ecosystem on Spotify.

While both Spotify, Twitter and Discord are looking at creating a platform for a wide, diverse range of content, LinkedIn is looking enhancing your professional profile. The company is introducing a “Creator” mode that allows you to get followers on your profile. The new profile will allow users to be followed in a similar way to the pages on Facebook. However, in addition to this, LinkedIn seems to be working on a similar Clubhouse-like approach to live audio content that it believes will be a good complement to a professional profile.

So, with more and more companies releasing their own versions of Clubhouse – where do you, our reader fall with the rise of live audio? Are you going to be taking part in the conversation? Which platform will you be using?

Android, iOS, Mobile, News, Social Media

Instagram Live Rooms – Experience video broadcasting with more users on Instagram Now

March 2, 2021 Shireen Lee Leave a comment

Attention Instagrammers! Instagram has rolled out a new feature that allows more people to go live at once. The new feature called “Live Rooms”allows up to 4 users to participate and act as ‘hosts’ in a video chat room. Instagram hopes that the introduction of Live Rooms will encourage users to start their first podcast on Instagram. Also, going live with more than two people ups the fun factor. It also allows creators to share their audiences which can help increase reach and follows among the collaborators.

On the other hand, Instragram is trying to one up apps like Clubhouse, Pong Pong and Partying by creating a more interactive session with the video experience. This allows the audience and friends to actually see the expressions and reactions of the hosts on camera. Instagram claims that its limit of up to 4 hosts helps prevent participants talking over each other. That said, the audience can still freely interact with hosts through the chat function. Instagram is encouraging a plethora of content formats including livestream shopping and fundraising using Live Rooms.

Going live with Live Rooms isn’t just about interactions. Instagram Live Rooms is also helping creators monetise by offering “Live Badges”.The audience can purchase “Live Badges” from the host. The hope is that, like other platforms, these badges will help connect creators to their audiences better. It also allows audiences to directly support creators.

However, Live Rooms isn’t going live on Instagram willy nilly. Instagram has put in place terms and conditions to help protect creators and the community. People who have been blocked by any of the participants in the Live Room will not able to join the room. In addtion, those who have lost their privileges to go Live on Instagram due to violations of Community Guidelines will not be able to partake in Live Rooms.

Both Android and iOS users have access to Live Rooms and the feature is now available on Instagram. Instagram app is available for free on from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Of course, as mentioned, terms and conditions to Live Rooms apply.

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Tag Archives: Clubhouse

Spotify Live is Being Put Down

More Apple Spatial Audio! This Time on Clubhouse!

Tech Your Way