The radio call-in show has been democratized, and it is called Clubhouse.
The social media app that is sweeping the world is a daily place of joy for me. While brands, self-help gurus, and entrepreneurs all try to decipher what this runaway train of connectivity will become, I have handed myself over to it, body and soul.
If you haven’t heard of Clubhouse yet, just search it online. In fact, I would encourage you to do so right now and then come back to this blog. At the risk of losing you, I think you must understand what I am talking about. That will help me make my task more manageable and explain why I am so in love with this thing.
For perspective, I was cut by every baseball team I ever tried out for. So I never made it to the Clubhouse. But as I progressed through life, I made my own clubs. When I went to university, I wasn’t keen on the Greek system of clubs called sororities or fraternities as a club. So I created a group called Team Gryphon. This was a club of students who loved our university sports teams and wanted to help promote them. Later in my career, I created SponsorshipX (formerly the Canadian Sponsorship Forum), which was less an event and more of a club for sponsorship marketing professionals. I recently launched the Black Talent Initiative, part movement, and part club for social justice advocates.
The one thing in common with all of these clubs? In fact, with any club? They provide an opportunity for your voice to be heard. A safe space for you to be among like-minded people with shared values. A chance to meet people you may never have met before.
This is why I believe Clubhouse has wholly upended the notion of community in social media forever. Akin to what Instagram did to photo social sharing, TikTok has done to video, Clubhouse now has to audio. The Clubhouse app takes the best of the podcast – hearing from experts, best of radio – the chance to be heard and combined with the best of being in a club – an opportunity to dialogue.
The Clubhouse app has also eliminated many of the pitfalls of social media. The vitriol from the anonymous person, hiding behind an online identity. The misinterpretation is often caused by the written word. The delay in feedback and gratification. The one too many nature of a post. The lack of spontaneity, emotion, and nuance. All the negatives of social media are gone.
The Clubhouse app is the place for you to find your voice. The place for your consumers to find their voice. The place for your employees to find their voices. The place for your future consumers and employees to find their voices as well.
When I joined Clubhouse a month or so ago, there were two million users. Today it is past ten million. It is technically invite-only. That means someone you know has to either send you an entry or they need to let you in off the waitlist.
Those are the technical invitations to Clubhouse. I am offering you an emotional invitation.
Join the Club and find your voice.