Clubhouse is finally letting everyone join the platform without the use of invites or a waitlist to stay ahead of competitors from other social platforms.
Clubhouse became popular especially in the United States during the pandemic due to its uniqueness and diversity of unscripted discussions held in several virtual rooms but one could only join with the use of an iOS device and an invite.
The decision to let both Android and iOS users join without a waitlist or invite but by signing up stems from the competition with the return of IRL gatherings in the US and other markets. Also, competitions from social media platforms like Twitter who recently launched a similar product called “Spaces” in December and Facebook launched “Live Audio Rooms” in late June.
Recent data from Sensor Tower, a mobile app tracker revealed that compared to the recorded 9.6 million downloads clubhouse garnered in February from iOS users, May recorded a huge decrease as only 719,000 iOS users downloaded.
In January, Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan announced in a blog that they will be opening up the platform to android users which later took effect in May. Since the launch, the android version has recorded a progressive 10 million downloads.
“The invite system has been an important part of our early history,” Davison and Seth wrote in a blog post-Wednesday. They also said adding people in waves has helped to “grow Clubhouse in a measured way.” Overall, the app has reached approximately 29.8 million installs globally across the Apple Store and Google Play.
According to Clubhouse, daily over 500,000 rooms are created and users spend an average of one hour on the platform. Also, its recently introduced feature “Backchannel” which enables direct messaging has recorded over 90 million messages already barely a week after its launch.
However, there are concerns surrounding if Clubhouse will be able to put appropriate measures in handling hate speech and abuse especially with an uprising of users sharing examples of antisemitism, misinformation and harassment on the platform.
“We know there will be many more ups and downs as we scale, and competition from the large networks will be fierce. But we believe the future is created by optimists and we’re excited to keep working to build a different kind of social network,” Davison and Seth said.