Clubhouse, co-founded by Indian-origin Rohan Seth, is becoming the new must-have social media app among Indians. Though it has been in existence for more than a year now, the app has been recently gaining a lot of traction across the globe, especially in India. Celebrities, social media influencers, politicians, and the Gen Z have been flooding into the audio-based social media app.
What is Clubhouse?
It is a mobile-only application that lets its users communicate with each other in voice-only chat ‘rooms’. It lets the users hold live discussions wherein they can participate by listening or speaking.
As of now, it is an invite-only platform. One would not be able to download it, sign-up, and use it just like that. One needs an invitation from an existing user to be able to sign up. The company is, however, thinking of making it available to everyone in the immediate future.
Who started it?
It was founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth of Alpha Exploration Company. Though originally designed as a platform for podcasts under the name ‘Talkshow’, it was later rebranded as ‘Clubhouse’.
Rohan Seth, the Indian-origin co-founder grew up in New Delhi. He met his co-founder Paul Davison at Stanford. Seth worked at Google and also co-founded Memry Labs before co-founding Clubhouse.
When was it launched?
It was launched in March 2020, available only on the iOS platform. It became a big deal a few months into its release with celebrities and eminent personalities like Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Tesla CEO Elon Musk appearing on the platform.
The Android version was released only last month – on 21st May 2021. Two weeks into its release, it is taking the internet by storm with thousands of people including film stars, sports stars, actors, politicians, etc flocking into the platform. It has been gaining a lot of popularity in India too with various political parties like INC, BJP, CPM, etc. and other groups desperately trying to create their own spaces in a new, yet growing platform. Clubhouse has already become flooded with lots of discussions, interviews, debates, etc being held every now and then.
With the company set to retract its invite-only nature and to make it available to everyone, its popularity and user base is only set to increase in the days to come.
How do I join?
Currently, you need an invite to sign up into the platform. After getting an invite from someone who is an existing user of the platform, you receive a link that leads you up to a sign-up page. Once you are done filling in the basic details and submitting the form, HOORRAAY! You are now a part of the exclusive platform!