A new app called Clubhouse has taken social media circles by storm. Developed by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Paul Davison and ex-Google employee Rohan Seth, the Clubhouse app is based on audio-chat, which is part talkback radio, part conference call. Let's dig deeper into details of this app.
Sudden spike in app downloads
How does the app work?
Currently, only available for iphone users
App users dealing with bullying and harassment!At the same time, Clubhouse is not without controversy. Many app users have reportedly dealt with bullying and harassment on its platform. The company has faced criticism for essentially having no content moderation policies or even basic safety features like blocking or ability to report harassment.
Susceptible to spying?Besides, according to a security research report by Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), certain vulnerabilities were discovered in Clubhouse, making it susceptible to spying by the Chinese government. The report added that a Shanghai-based company, called Agora Inc provides the backend infrastructure to Clubhouse.
Twitter VS ClubhouseClubhouse is also facing competition from Twitter, which is working on a similar product with a new feature called Spaces. Currently, the feature is only available to a small group of beta users, but it could eventually have the upper hand, as Spaces users may have an easier time finding an audience since the feature is integrated directly into Twitter. However, at present, Clubhouse doesn't have any real competition in the audio space. Its real test will be once it loses the allure of exclusivity.