So, What Happened to Clubhouse?

At the beginning of 2021, people were sitting at home and dodging face-to-face interactions. The idea of being inside an actual bar was a couple of months (and vaccine doses) away, but there was a new Clubhouse on the rise.

The app allowed users to join literal chat rooms. People talked to each other and left messages, but it was audio-only. There was no camera, no pictures, and no need for pants. But there was one barrier: It was invite-only.

In a way, this made it feel like you needed a golden ticket to get into Clubhouse, but in July 2021, the app was open for anyone to join without an invitation. By that point, it felt like no one cared. The hype had died down, and the app seems to have disappeared from the public eye. Now that we’re two years removed from the initial buzz, we‘re left to wonder why no one is talking about — or talking on— Clubhouse.

The Rise of Clubhouse

Maybe it was luck, and the app launched at the right time, but Clubhouse’s popularity begins around March 2020 when the iOS app launched. By May 2020, it was assessed to be worth $100 million and was backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, but it only had about 5,000 users by this time.

That’s a lot of money, but not a lot of users. However, the people who were on the platform were big names like Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Hart. This would draw attention to the platform, but many people heard of the app when Elon Musk tweeted that he’d be going on Clubhouse in January 2021. This created a lot of buzz around the new social network, particularly during a time when people were locked indoors during the winter months of a pandemic.

All the people who wanted to get into the club were mostly out of luck. At that point, the platform was in a beta version, and people needed to get an invitation.

Like any cool club in real life, there was a level of exclusivity. People were searching for invites, and even though there were 2 million people using the service in January 2021 there were a lot of people looking to get in.

Leaving the Club

The social network was open to everyone in July 2021, no invite needed, but by this point many people had overstayed their welcome in the club.

Downloads of the app had a peak in February 2021, but a second wave came in July 2021. Taking the app out of its beta version meant it could be downloaded on Android devices, which drew interest in international markets where iOS isn’t as common.

But, this didn’t open floodgates. After the second burst, downloads fell again, and never had another resurgence. In 2022, worldwide monthly downloads hovered below 1 million and seemed to stabilize in this region as the year progressed. But, this doesn’t mean the app is dying — it could (theoretically) mean it’s found its core users and is growing slowly.

At its peak in March 2021, Clubhouse had 10 million active users. About a year later, that number had shrunk to 3.5 million, even with all the additional downloads. It seems obvious that the platform is bleeding users.

While the remaining user base isn’t insignificant, this club is no longer the talk of the town. People have unrestricted access to the Clubhouse doors, and they’re using them to get out.

Why Were We Even In the Club?

If you’ve ever gone on Clubhouse, you’ve likely wondered to yourself what do I do here? For a lot of people, the allure of Clubhouse was getting into the club. Once inside, the objective wasn’t so clear.

Essentially, it’s Twitter meets a podcast. You can listen to people talking, conference call-style, and allow guests to contribute to the conversation. It seemed like a modern idea, but its arrival into the public eye paralleled the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines. With restrictions being lifted, people weren’t going to stay inside for Clubhouse.

It could have been a different story if Clubhouse gained popularity in May 2020 rather than February 2021. At that point, people would have spent enough time indoors that they actually formed habits involving Clubhouse. Instead, it was part of the final push — the last leg before we freed ourselves from the constraints of our homes.

To put another nail in the Clubhouse coffin, other social networks were taking notice and coming out with their own audio rooms. Most notably, Twitter Spaces presented competition, but the social network had the advantage of already having communities. If Twitter users want to talk, they can do that; if not, it’s back to the keyboard.

Clubhouse does one thing, and if you don’t want to do that, you don’t use it. It looks like people aren’t as chatty as they were expected to be.

Is the Party Over?

When Clubhouse first became popular, it seemed like a promising way to find new people. Now, you’d be better off making friends at a real club.

The app was only downloaded 4.2 million times from January-July 2022. During the same time period in 2021, it got 29.4 million downloads. Though the number of downloads isn’t everything, it is indicative of a lack of interest— and a lack of need.

Another warning sign of Clubhouse’s decline: Executives are leaving. Again, this doesn’t mean anything definitive, but it doesn’t instill a lot of faith in the platform’s future. If individuals who have invested in Clubhouse’s development can’t stick with the product, growth may not be super sustainable.

As a user, the buzz is gone. People have less time to spend listening to digital chatter, and they’d rather go back to more traditional socializing — whatever that looked like when a pandemic wasn’t constraining them. But Clubhouse has one glimmer of hope. In 2022, its service HoneyDrip is slowly growing. This is the platform for creators, it allows performers to monetize their offerings, and users can purchase access to exclusive content.

Like many clubs, attendance is only as strong as the shows being offered. If big names get on board, others will follow. Otherwise, people will move into the next cyberspace’s next hot, new club.