Shifting World of Social Media

On today’s show we’re talking about relationship building in an era of social isolation. We’re social creatures and there’s nothing like speaking with people and having real conversations with people.

I see it with kids who are interacting on role playing games where they will be playing the game in teams, connected by headset and conversing with friends across town or sometimes on the other side of the world.

Well now the adult version of that is taking the business world by storm. It’s a new social media application called clubhouse. Some of you may have heard of it. Most of you are probably unaware of what it’s all about. So today’s show is dedicated to bringing you into the current decade kicking and screaming. I’m here to tell you that this new way of interacting is going to be as huge as Facebook or LinkedIn. No doubt, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will respond with a competitive offering of their own. Who knows, maybe Google will jump into the fray. But at a time when several social media companies are under federal anti-trust investigations, it would be difficult for any of these entrenched companies to grab a dominant position in an emerging technology especially if they try to do it by acquisition. There is no way the regulators will approve the industry consolidation while there is an anti-trust suit against these companies.

OK. So what is clubhouse. Think of a social media app that is somewhat like Facebook, except the only way to communicate is by talking. The only way to talk is by being in a room. There are three types of rooms. Rooms can be created by any member at any time. You can invite people who follow you to join you in a room. You can also schedule the opening time for a room and notify the community that at 8PM, there is going to be a room dedicated to talking about fishing. So all those members who have indicated an interest in fishing will be made aware of the upcoming meeting on fishing. They won’t see notifications about rooms dedicated to travel to Paris unless they’ve listed travel to Paris as one of their interests.

Some members who have been consistent room hosts will have the right to apply to create a club. A club is a little like a Facebook group. There might be a club dedicated to, say, commercial real estate, or fundraising. If the room isn’t a club, you’ll only see it as an open room to join if you are connected with people who are in the room.

Once you’re in the room, there are two parts to the room. There is a stage and an audience. Only the people on stage can speak. When you’re in the audience, you can be invited on stage by the moderators of the room. Once you’re on stage, you can join the conversation.

In many of the clubs, the moderators are there to have a panel discussion and answer audience questions. In many of the rooms I’ve attended the moderators ask audience members to put up their hand and come onto the stage to ask a question or make a comment relevant to the chosen topic of the room.

In my experience, some of these rooms are open for hours. Some of the people I spoke with on the weekend said that they came onto Clubhouse intending to stay for an hour, and instead stayed four hours.

I’ve engaged in several conversations that have been incredibly powerful in just a few days. Several people I’ve spoken with have managed to already translate the connections they made in Clubhouse into real live offline relationships that have monetary value.

The software is in Beta release so far. They just announced a $100 million capital raise at a $1B valuation. Leading the fundraise is Andreessen Horowitz. Let’s put this in perspective. This is for a company that has zero revenue. They reportedly have about 2 million active users on a weekly basis.