Clubhouse, the app that popularized social audio rooms, is changing its strategy to focus more on voice messaging. The company announced a major redesign of its app, which aims to make Clubhouse “more like a messaging app” with new voice-only group chats called “chats”.
What are chats?
Chats are a new feature that allows users to create and join voice-only groups with their friends and friends-of-friends. Users can start a chat by recording a voice message and then share it with others. The recipients can then listen and reply with their own voice messages, creating a kind of voice collage or conversation.
Chats are different from the live audio rooms that Clubhouse was known for. Live rooms are still available, but they are less prominent in the app and require users to swipe a microphone button to go live. Chats, on the other hand, are more casual and asynchronous, similar to an Instagram story or a WhatsApp voice note.
The app has been redesigned around these new chats, which are the first thing users see in the home tab. Users can also browse chats from people they follow or discover new ones based on their interests. Chats can be public, private, or invite-only, and users can mute or block unwanted messages.
Why is Clubhouse pivoting?
Clubhouse was one of the hottest apps of 2021, attracting millions of users and celebrities who joined live audio conversations on various topics. The app was valued at $4 billion in April 2021 and had over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
However, the app also faced several challenges, such as competition from other platforms like Twitter Spaces, Facebook Live Audio Rooms, and Spotify Greenroom, which launched their own social audio features. Clubhouse also saw a decline in user engagement and downloads after the pandemic restrictions eased and people resumed their normal activities.
The company said that it decided to pivot to chats after listening to user feedback and observing how people used the app. The founders said that they wanted to make Clubhouse “a place where you can talk with people” and “become real-life friends with your friends’ friends, and people you never would have met otherwise”.
The company also said that it was laying off half of its staff as part of its restructuring process. The remaining team will focus on building “Clubhouse 2.0”, which will include new features such as private audio messages (called voicemails or VMs), improved discovery and personalization, and more monetization options for creators.
How will users react?
It is unclear how the existing and potential users of Clubhouse will react to the new changes. Some may welcome the new chat feature as a more convenient and intimate way of communicating with their friends and acquaintances. Others may miss the live audio rooms that made Clubhouse unique and engaging.
The company acknowledged that it was taking “a big bet” with its pivot and hoped that it was right. It also said that it would continue to support live rooms as “a central part of Clubhouse” and that it would listen to user feedback and iterate on its product.
The revised app is now available on iOS and Android. Users can read more details about all of the changes to the app in this post on the Clubhouse website.