Clubhouse booming in Malaysia - What you should know about this audio social app?

Clubhouse has been around since March 2020. It was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth. In May 2020, the app had 1,500 users and valued at $100m.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk hosted an audio-chat on Clubhouse with Robinhood CEO Clad Tenev. The event saw the app’s 5,000-person cap maxed out and propelled Clubhouse to the top be among the hottest startups.

What is Clubhouse?

• Clubhouse is a platform where people can meet up, to host, to listen or to join conversations on predetermined topics or anything on their minds in “rooms”.
• The discussions can be very informative. It can also be a fun way to pass time - listening to people talk about topics you like, often with no pressure to participate.
• The topics of conversation may vary from serious to relaxed conversations, from topics on entrepreneurship, books, current issues, health. It has a feel of a mixture of TED Talks and podcast shows with the opportunity for listeners to ‘speak’ when they ‘raise hands’.
• Users can also create ‘closed rooms’ in which only invited users may join and have private conversations.
• The app also has “clubs,” which can create recurring rooms and have members.
• There are Moderators to control who gets speaking privileges and invites listeners to speak.

How does it work?

Currently, Clubhouse is available only as an iOS app. Its rooms can’t be accessed via Android devices or the web.

It’s also invite-only for now, meaning you need to know an existing user to use the app. The existing users need to give the app access to their entire iOS contact list to send any invites.

The two tech titans, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Like Musk, Zuckerberg jumped on Clubhouse to participate in “The Good Time Show,” - a talk show on the app.

Zuckerberg was on the show to discuss futuristic technology from Facebook's Reality Labs group, which specialises in augmented reality, virtual reality, and other platforms believed to be the future of human-computer interaction.

Celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Drake, Chris Rock, designer Virgil Abloh, comedian Tiffany Haddish, CNN’s Van Jones, rapper 21 Savage, and “Shark Tank’s” Mark Cuban have been seen appearing on Clubhouse.

Recently AirAsia’s big boss Tony Fernandes and CIMB Group Chairman Nazir Razak also appeared on Clubhouse and held a session discussing the Malaysian Education System, Government Linked Companies (GLCs) and wealth.

Some Malaysian politicians also have been seen on Clubhouse, including Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, Selangor Menteri Besar, Amirudin Shari, Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament (MP), Fahmi Fadzil and Setiawangsa MP, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

Privacy Issue Recently Clubhouse said it is reviewing its data protection practices after a report by the Stanford Internet Observatory said the app contained security flaws that left users’ data vulnerable to access by the Chinese government.

Blocked in China For a short time, the masses of new users joined from mainland China and took part in discussions on topics that included sensitive issues such as the Muslim Uyghurs, Xinjiang detention camps, Taiwan’s independence and Hong Kong’s National Security Law - a rare opportunity for a dialogue on contentious topics free from the country’s usual tight controls.

Then, the inevitable happened, and the app was added to the ‘Great Firewall’, as well as searches of ‘Clubhouse’ on the apps such as Weibo.

Misinformation and hate speech Just like any other social media apps, Clubhouse is not immune from those with bad behaviours and users have reported harassment, misinformation and hate speech on the app.

In one incident last month, a user promoted conspiracy theories about coronavirus vaccines and discouraged people from getting the shots, leading to harassment of a female doctor.

There have been numerous complaints that Clubhouse hasn’t done much to address this and to protect users from such abuse and misinformation.

Unlike Facebook or Twitter where users leave digital footprints, the conversations are wiped out once the room closes. This makes it almost impossible to hold people accountable for their words as recordings of the chat rooms are against the guidelines and can get you kicked off the app.

An article from Vanity Fair has revealed that Clubhouse founders Davison and Seth declined to be interviewed, but sent the following statement via a spokesperson:

“We believe in the unique power of voice to build empathy, and see Clubhouse as a place where people with different perspectives, backgrounds and lived experiences broaden their understanding and evolve their worldviews. The company unequivocally condemns all forms of racism, hate speech, and abuse, as noted in our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, and has trust and safety procedures in place to investigate and address any violation of these rules.”

In a Clubhouse discussion recently, Davison said the company was focusing on hiring, building new features and releasing an Android version of the app.

Meanwhile, as Clubhouse continues to gain popularity, it is also facing competition from Twitter which is working on a similar product with a new feature called ‘Spaces’ which is in beta at the moment.

Facebook has also been reported to have started working on building a product to compete with Clubhouse.