Nobody ever thought that despite the availability of various platforms that provides us an overall package for online communications, from audio to video, an audio-only social networking app will become a massive hit. By now it is quite clear that we are talking about Clubhouse. Yes! The app gained immense popularity in its initial phase. Also, the credit for its wide popularity goes to Elon Musk who made the platform highly popular by giving an interview on it.
Clubhouse was founded in March 2020 and currently has more than two million users on the platform. Looking at the huge success of the audio social app, Twitter was working towards building its own live audio chat platform, but interestingly, various reports are suggesting that Twitter is in discussions with Clubhouse about purchasing the app for around $4 billion.
According to Bloomberg Now reports, Twitter’s discussions with Clubhouse regarding the possible purchase of the app for a massive amount of money have been stalled for now, and the reasons are still unclear as to why. Also, reports have no clear idea about whether Twitter was the first to approach Clubhouse or vice-versa.
Clubhouse: Social audio app
Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen to the conversations, interviews, and discussions between interesting people on various topics on the platform – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. But what makes this app different is that the app invite-only means we cannot just download it from the app store and create an account. The only way to join Clubhouse is by an invitation. Yes! You need an invitation to enter the app and also an iOS device.
Interestingly, the invitation can only be sent by an existing member of the audio-based app and not anyone else. On entering the app, you need to select the topics of your interest, through which the app will guide you to the conversation rooms and individuals based on your interests. The conversation room is just like a conference room where few individuals speak while others listen. Also, once the chat is over, the conversation room disappears living no trace of the conversation. However, if any user wants to record the live conversation, they are free to do so.
Clubhouse is continuously trying to innovate itself at a massive pace, and for the cause, it has even staffed up in the course of the recent months so that the company can build its own Android app.
Twitter is working on its own product
Twitter is working on its own audio product to compete with Clubhouse. It is therefore unclear as to why the microblogging platform wanted to acquire Clubhouse in the first place. It is quite possible that Twitter decided to build its own platform after the acquisition talks with Clubhouse were unsuccessful or else Twitter just simply want to wipe the competition out and gain its dedicated user base and buzzy name. Whatever the reason may be but it is interesting to know that Twitter is very much interested in social audio space.
The tech giant has already arrived with its own platform Twitter Spaces which is already live on iOS and Android. Twitter Spaces lets you create or join live audio rooms on the platform, just like Clubhouse. Twitter is soon to introduce Twitter Spaces for desktop users and is trying to increase the platform’s hosting abilities as well. Moreover, existing Twitter users can use the app without having to set up a new account from scratch.