By Rachel Wheeley, Digital Communications Manager, The Physiological Society, @RachelWheeley
If you haven’t heard or read about Clubhouse, you likely will in the coming days or weeks. The hype around Clubhouse, a free, voice–based social media app, harks back to the launch days of Twitter. Despite being invitation only, appearances by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have created a buzz that has resulted in over 10 million downloads of the app.
What could this new kid on the social media block mean for the future of science communication?
I first heard about Clubhouse when I spoke to the creator of another new audio hub.
He told me that audio was going to overtake video within 10 years. “People want to do more than one thing at once,” he explained, filing his nails as he spoke as if to emphasise the point.
“We want to consume content whilst doing a workout, driving or cleaning. We don’t want to commit 100% to a screen, like you have to when you’re watching a video.”
As an ex-radio producer and mum, I’m entirely on board with this idea. I’m too busy cleaning and sweeping Cheerios out of the carpet to watch videos for leisure these days.
I spend all day on screens at work. The last thing I want to do in the evenings is consume more screen-based content.
During the 6–minute speed pitch he briefly referenced something called Clubhouse. “This audio content company’s been valued at $1bn,” he explained with great enthusiasm.
I raised an eyebrow at this. An audio–only content platform isn’t the most likely unicorn – the term given to disruptive and highly profitable tech companies valued at over $1bn.
Within 24 hours I had heard the name Clubhouse again, this time from a BBC colleague who offered to send me an invite. I jumped at the opportunity and took a look around.
What does the platform look like?
On arrival, I was expecting a cross between live podcasting and tuning into somebody else’s conference call. And it is a bit like that.
Clubhouse seems to work like an enormous, virtual conference centre. Audio conversations happen in virtual rooms which are run by moderators who can add and remove people from the virtual stage. Those on the stage have a microphone, those off the stage listen, raising their hand if they want to be given the mic.
The lovely thing about it is the spontaneity of networking available. We’ve got out of the habit of just calling people. With Clubhouse, you can find yourself pinged by a contact who happens to be around, and a spontaneous chat can take place.
This might be the replacement for the conversations by the watercooler that we’re all missing whilst offices are closed all over the world.
Clubhouse has not even hit its first anniversary. Shortly after it launched in March 2020 it had 1,500 users and was valued at $100m. Its most recent valuation is $1bn – but this doesn’t mean that it will stand the test of time.
As with the early days of Twitter, the excitement comes from the chance to hear directly from innovators, entrepreneurs, businesspeople and celebrities. The current size of the platform means people can have proper conversations with them. The challenge for the platform will be maintaining genuine discussion when the audience scales up to millions.
What does this new platform mean for science communication?
Scientists are often at the vanguard of new technology, and it’s no surprise that the STEM community on Clubhouse is already strong. This new platform could be used like an audio TED stage: to share science in ways that can be accessed by large numbers of people.
Scientists could use this platform as a conference centre or a place to collaborate and network with other researchers all over the world. For example, this could be another way for physiologists and intensive care specialists to share knowledge, as they did in December at The Physiological Society’s COVID conference.
Bloomberg called it the nicest place on the internet, and one of the advantages of a voice-based platform is that debate is necessarily more civil than the text based social media apps that have become so unpleasant in recent years.
Also, unlike video conferencing, there’s no need to be up, dressed and seated in front of a bountiful bookcase to take part.
And the implications for teaching are significant. Students are limited in where they can learn when they require full bandwidth for video lectures and seminars. But the audio environment can be consumed from almost any location.
However, the app does have its limitations. It’s inaccessible to the deaf, with no attempt at transcription provided at the moment. There is also a limit of 5,000 attendees to a room, which led to the recent interview featuring Elon Musk to be surreptitiously streamed to YouTube so that it could be heard more widely.
Keeping an ear to the ground
There is understandably a lot of hype about Clubhouse. But it is still early days: the app is in beta mode, is currently invite-only and is available only on iPhones.
However, at The Physiological Society we are excited about its potential. We think this platform for spontaneous audio communication has huge implications for the future of science communication.
As well as providing a platform for researchers to collaborate, it can also connect physiologists directly with the public. With low access costs (a phone and internet) and global reach, scientists can cut through the noise to have real two-way conversations about topical issues.
As the app opens up to more users, we’ll be keeping an ear on it.