My new column in The Drum today looks at Clubhouse in the context of the myths and realities of social media:
LinkedIn has many 25-year-old wannabe life coaches and motivational speakers who are inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk and masquerading as professional marketers. In this edition of The Promotion Fix, columnist Sam Scott wonders whether Clubhouse will be something similar.
The internet’s graveyard is full of failed challenger social networks. Ello (goodbye). Gab (racists). Parler (fascists). Google+ (minus). Yik Yak (blah blah). Vine (died on the). Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and TikTok remain dominant.
Now, enter the Clubhouse. According to Apptopia, the platform has been downloaded 4.7m times since its April 2020 launch – 3.7m (79%) of which have occurred in 2021 so far. The network also raised $100m in investment funding. Most significantly, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appeared on a Clubhouse talk show, further drawing attention to the app.
But how – if at all – should marketers use it?
First, a quick overview. Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio chat platform based on the use of public and private ‘rooms’. Anyone with an iPhone can sign up for the waiting list. People already using Clubhouse can approve their personal contacts in the queue to join. Thanks to a friend in the marketing industry, I now have the app.