Same here, gave it a try and it's pretty much just a bubble builder for celebrities, not much else.

What I really don't understand is people trying to build a connection to podcasts? Why? Just because it's audio too? The reason I enjoy podcasts is that I get to enjoy specific topics (or field specific news) from a list of sources I curate myself. I have show notes, know roughly what I get into with an episode, and get to pause and rewind, and that is just a part of it.

> trying to build a connection

The comparison to podcasts is to be "the thing that you listen to while doing something else".

I'm not sure that's a universal experience. One of the most popular podcasts is Joe Rogan's, where each episode is just him talking to a random guest about a random thing, and that kind of show seems like it'd translate pretty straightforwardly to Clubhouse. I can't say I've ever wanted to rewind Rogan or follow along with show notes.

Yes, Clubhouse feels like the perfect trap for the VC/PM class. It is a product that is extremely appealing to the them, but for which probability of widespread adoption seems low. And, of course, that group of people is one of the loudest on social media, so anyone within a few degrees of separation from them will "hear" them singing Clubhouse's praises.

I've never used Clubhouse, but to play Devil's advocate this is what people said about Facebook in its very early days. A product that appeals to Ivy League kids goofing around on each other's walls and showing off their favorite books. Why would that ever gain widespread adoption.

I think the lesson is that the impulse to imitate high-status people is very strong. Even when the behavior has no intrinsic value to the average Joe. If a social network gains a reputation for where SV entrepreneurs or "thought leaders" or Harvard heiresses hang out, then many people will flock to it regardless of what the actual experience is like. When Facebook opened up to a new campus, students would sign up en masse without even realizing what the product was.

This is a very insightful point. There is already a culture meming the imaginary April rooms where the "rich and powerful" gather to do insider-deals. You see this with all the get-rich-quick rooms, "thought-leader TedX" rooms, and "insightful conversation about social issues" rooms. It's a big pretend-land where everyone can partake what they imagine the "upper-crust" talks about. Someone made a point of people showing up at Soho house in 2020 (after it has "sold out") wearing designer clothes they got at the outlet, not knowing it sends a different signal. The truth is ... the only "consequential" people that frequent clubhouse are there to promote a very specific agenda, using the resident population as fodder to their cause. It's a stark microcosm of the inequalities in this society, and how consumer culture does not address the inquality, but rather just veil it in ignorance.

I think it was @default_friend on Twitter who made that point about Soho house[1]. I found the overall thread[2] to really help me understand the status dynamics of CH, reminding me of the Status as a Service essay[3] by Eugene Wei.

[1]: https://twitter.com/default_friend/status/135961816878890598... [2]: https://twitter.com/default_friend/status/135961480306553651... [3]: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service

I don't think Facebook was ever a "perfect trap for the VC/PM class". Quora was, though - from the outside, Clubhouse really reminds me of the early days of Quora, with a nucleus of densely connected Silicon Valley elite drawing in a crowd of early adopters.

Quora ended up being like if Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn had a baby. I expect Clubhouse to go in a similar direction.

VCs and entrepreneurs have been trying to replicate the FB/Harvard/private rollout thing since FB did it. I can't think of any other cases where it worked though. Very much a cargo cult decision.

The best description of CH I’ve come across: “A platform where C tier people listen to B tier people talk about A tier people.”

You know what would be really cool? A place where there aren’t tiers of people.

Why? The human species and relatives have organized into heirarchies since their dawn.

You start as a child, and go forth and develop your place in the world.

If everyone is the same, no one is unique.

Different desires lead to different contributions which have different levels of value to society which lead to different levels of social status.

We've also killed each other since time immemorial, doesn't mean we have to like it.

No one wants to not be on top, but being on top doesn't maximize everyone's happiness or sense of purpose either.

If true, that would make it even more cool.

You’d have to venture outside of our planet to find such a thing, and even then I doubt you’ll find what you’re looking for.

That sounds like it would've applied to Twitter until "A tier people" joined the platform, got their blue checkmarks and became the reason Twitter hit critical mass.

Great one!

I've heard it described as Twitch Chat minus Twitch, just the Chat.

But then again that's pretty much what the real world is. That isn't really a CH-specific phenomenon.

I agree with you that it's mostly not good. However, I wandered into a conversation with a bunch of DC journalists late at night and they were openly gossiping (probably all slightly inebriated) and saying things that almost assuredly were supposed to be off-the-record. It was fascinating and eye-opening as well as very entertaining.

The attraction of CH is exactly this: getting to hear things you would ordinarily not be "allowed" to hear. When it first started more of these types of conversations were happening and it did feel like you were part of the "in group" getting to hear things that ordinary people weren't privy to.

Making secrets explicit as a business model is not sustainable though. As more and more people file into the app creators are going be less and less explicit and all that will be left is the banal and boring (which may be enough actually, as the app is still addicting if you're a lurker).

Here's my prediction: CH is here to stay, but it will hit a ceiling. Additionally some people on the app are clearly playing with fire and we will likely see someone important get into trouble on the app and that will be the end of the (already dying) cool factor of the app.

> getting to hear things you would ordinarily not be "allowed" to hear

Feels like a side effect from being new and artifically limited via invites and I doubt that aspect will be kept very long. Same with people praising how friendly the discourse is supposed to be.

Yeah. I doubt it will scale.

The question is why would you gossip on CH? My guess is that there is some excitement to 'getting caught' or just more generally doing it in public. It's like the equivalent of having a private conversation in a bar or coffee shop. Because of COVID, people turn to CH to replicate this experience. After COVID, I suspect this app will die out.

That is my suspicion as well.

I know yesterday, there was a media guy who tried to do a hit job on some youtuber based on a clubhouse, and the entire chat had to come to his defense on twitter call the guy out as a liar. I imagine this will become increasingly common and will really kill the "authenticity" it offers.

>Why would I let someone else dictate what I listen to when there's plenty of on-demand content available 24/7?

To be fair there's still good radio out there and not even just on the internet. The really commercial stuff on most of the FM band is tedious but personally I really love people who are passionate about music play me things I might not have heard before. Things like BBC Radio Six Music and the former offshore pirate Radio Caroline are both pretty good in this regard.

A good radio DJ can create a far more personal and human experience than just waiting for Spotify's algorithm to give you something vaguely related.

Yes. There is good stuff out there. I often go for live radio as a medium of discovery but within some well defined boundaries. I might listen to classical music or a jazz station and discover new artists or new interpretations within a genre that I already like. I might listen to a some talkshows in the hope that I might discover something interesting that was outside of my radar.

I just don’t see how Clubhouse scales. I can see how compelling it is to actively participate in a small-scale chat with interesting people. But once a room reaches the level where only a few people can talk I’m basically listening to a poorly produced podcast that must be listened to live rather than at my convenience. …I don’t get the appeal.

They’re moderated. They don’t just grow forever in that way.

I am a new user but I hope they don’t start charging for listening in, there is much value by experts who are not there for promotional reasons but rather for intellectual discussions: ex: tech talks, medtech, AI.

Their target demographic seems more like conferences or university lectures with active participation, where education is the primary goal. I used to think that this might go away after covid, but after examination, the social utility is of tremendous value. I am usually against all social media (deleted most), which I think corrodes society, but clubhouse seems to be onto something.

Some controversial topics that could not have been discussed in person can be started here (and across the globe), expanding understanding on both sides: ex: politics, gender discrimination, Taiwan vs. China, etc.

There are also some funny/serious ones, for example “Attractive women explain things to tech bros” started as a joke but evolved into an advice place.

Yes, with every content platform you will inevitably have the quality issue, but I their content filtering can improve over time

> Lots of self-important people talking about why they're important

Taking a page from the LinkedIn playbook

"I gave clubhouse a go and found it super boring. Lots of self-important people talking about why they're important."

150% my exact experience. I don't get it, so I uninstalled it.

> ...so I uninstalled it.

That right there is one reason why I've never even tried it. I refuse to use app-only networks. Give me a web site that I can use from anywhere. Let me control what content my device downloads. There's no fucking way I'm buying into an app-only future.

It does feel a lot like velvet-rope LinkedIn.

Beautiful damning with faint praise there.

Exactly the reason I stopped using it. So serious, not fun, full of people that sound like the opposite of fun at a party.

"Shoot Your Shot: NYU girls roasting tech guys" is pretty amusing.

The first 30 minutes yes, then it is poor comedy.

I think that's a given because it's still invite only and has a very specific demographic creating content. Once it's open it could change dramatically. Or not. I don't know.

>> I think that's a given because it's still invite only and has a very specific demographic creating content.

Agreed.

Same thing happened with Ello ( https://ello.co/ ). Started out as invite only, which appealed to a certain group of people. Then the shine wore off and most users went back to FB and Twitter. Then it rebranded itself as a social media platform for creatives where it seems to have found a solid audience.

It turns out that the real social value of Clubhouse might be exposing how stupid and vain powerful people can be.

They are not sweating.

They're too lacking in self awareness for that, moreover, this is not remotely a threat.

Touché

Yes, people are fallible, but getting them to talk out loud instead of expressing themselves with trolling or promotions is a good start to build some understanding and empathy for the other side.

Sounds a bit like the lunches I ended up at with the office art snob prior to Covid.

you just described 100% of social media to me.