Clubhouse, the app that pioneered audio group meetings, is attempting to reinvent itself to stay relevant.
Clubhouse released during the COVID lockdown, enabling users to communicate about various topics. The audio only medium, which could host conferences, was eventually copied by Twitter’s Spaces. Tech Crunch reports:
Remember Clubhouse? At the peak of pandemic lockdowns, the invite-only social audio app soared with 10x month to month growth, then faded from public discourse almost as quickly as a16z investors opened their wallets.
Now, Clubhouse is throwing a hail mary to try to become relevant again. Today, the company announced “the new Clubhouse,” which introduces a new format called “chats.”
By acknowledging its weakness against X, Clubhouse is pivoting to more private chats, where users may be able to discuss more freely among friends.
The app has been totally redesigned around these new chats. When I opened up the newly updated app, it prompted me to start a new chat and share it. Chats are also what I’m seeing first in the new home tab in the app, and if I had friends that used Clubhouse, it seems like their chats would show up in the home tab, too.
Clubhouse has seen a massive drop in popularity since the early days of the covid pandemic, especially since the social network formerly known as Twitter launched its own Spaces social audio rooms. Spaces continue to be a key feature of Elon Musk’s X, but Clubhouse apparently now sees more opportunity in encouraging people to have voice chats with their friends rather than broadcasting live to large audiences.
As social media companies are constantly consolidating, smaller actors like Clubhouse have to adapt to these changes.
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