Once upon a time there was an internet in which social networks landed overnight, open to all, and whose fortunes – despite the often millionaire investments – were mostly entrusted to word of mouth (and to the quality of the platform). More than Snapchat and TikTok, it was the end of this long phase Clubhouse: the new social network audio only that allows you to create rooms in which to discuss your favorite topics by voice.
Receives and VIP
Since launching in April 2020, the marketing strategy has been carefully planned by founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth. Clubhouse is a social network that can only be accessed after receiving invitations, initially distributed with a dropper to the most famous American celebrities: from television personalities like Oprah Winfrey to billionaire venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen; from actors like Chris Rock to pop stars like Drake.
Even before regular users, celebrities came to Clubhouse, who in turn started inviting friends, thus creating an elite circle. Entering the Clubhouse initially meant being part of an exclusive club: and it is with this narrative that the overseas media they began to take an interest to the new social phenomenon. The strategy worked: with only 1,500 active users, Clubhouse was already in May 2020 valued at 100 million dollars. Over time, the jerseys have expanded and the club has gradually become less elitist.
Italy
From invitation to invitation, Clubhouse has thus also arrived in Italy at the beginning of January. But this mechanism has given way to a new chain that has favored the entry of influencers, communicators, marketing gurus and the like. Although it is quite easy to get into the Clubhouse these days (just get on the waiting list and wait for some acquaintance to give the green light from the inside), the ongoing invitation-only structure has two effects: the first is that the feeling of joining a club – albeit less and less exclusive – remains; the second is that this social network is from the beginning populated not so much by unknown pioneers who venture first into unexplored territories (perhaps becoming new influencers tomorrow), but by the usual well-known names of the social world and, gradually, also of the world of traditional show.
Not for all
It’s like Clubhouse wants to scream at the world that it’s not a social for everyone. A declaration of intent that also includes the decision to snub Android (despite the fact that they are “about to start working on it”, as is law on the official blog) and even to snub Facebook. In fact, you can enter Clubhouse using your Twitter or Instagram profile, but curiously not the social network profile used by 2.7 billion people worldwide. Why such a decision? Perhaps because the Facebook logo is now considered bad publicity: the very symbol of a national-popular social world from which Clubhouse seems to want to keep away.
The aura of exclusivity that this platform has so carefully cultivated is probably just a way to attract users to an increasingly crowded social landscape (and where Facebook’s monopoly is perhaps starting to crack). Will Clubhouse be able to maintain this niche social network image or will it decide to bend to the logic of the market by opening its doors to everyone?
The future
Much also depends on the business model that this application will adopt. Self, as some predict, we will move towards the model of targeted advertising – as happens on any other classic social network – then the push to increase users as much as possible will quickly collapse every entry barrier. If instead, as others imagine, they will opt for a Patreon-style model – in which the most popular content creators receive donations from followers and Clubhouse receives a share – then maintaining a controlled and quality environment could be an advantage.
And what about a mixed model? For the moment, what is certain is that the app, with about 1.2 million active users, has received a valuation of one billion dollars and that the funding given by venture capitalists amounts to 100 million. Considering the great noise that Clubhouse is making, it is easy to think that investors will soon want to see their economic return and therefore this new social network will have to start monetizing. At that point, we will understand if the exclusivity of Clubhouse was an added value or a simple red herring.
–
