Clubhouse Red Flags you need to be aware of

“Are you on Clubhouse?” is the latest question circulating around our social media. And the answer is probably not unless you have an Apple device running iOS 14 and received an invite.

I describe Clubhouse as a mix between a Livestream, a podcast, and Twitter but it’s audio-only. In Clubhouse, there are “Rooms” that are focused on a specific topic. These topics are varied across every conceivable subject such as “LGBTQ+ Wine and Food”, “Business Mindset Tips”, “How to grow YouTube” and everything else you can think of.

In that Room, there are “Moderators” who make up the panel and you can join the room and just listen to the conversation which is happening in real-time. If you want to participate in the conversation or ask a question, you can raise your hand and the moderators will call you up on “stage”.

Having been on the platform for a bit, I have loved the information shared so freely.

I have been hanging out in Social Media, YouTube and Business related rooms and I noticed a couple of red flags…

Advice is everywhere by everyone on Clubhouse

When you are in a Room, the panelists that are on the stage are looked up to as the experts. They are seen right at the top of the room separated from the audience. Some speakers have a green star next to their name which means they are Moderators. Being a moderator allows you to various special privileges in that room such as selecting audience members to be on stage.

The problem is that anyone can create a room about any topic at any time. The room creator is automatically the moderator and gets that green star.

This gives the person an instant level of authority.

However, I have been in various rooms where the advice given from the stage is frankly wrong.

Since this is an audio-only platform and only those on the panel are able to speak, there is no way to communicate anything to the person to inform them that they were given the incorrect information.

I strongly suggest looking up and researching the person whose advice you are about to take.

Each Clubhouse user has a bio page. Simply tap on their profile pic and you will see their bio page which contains a mini resume.

Clubhouse allows users to connect to their Twitter and Instagram accounts. Use that link to check out the person who is providing the advice so you can judge for yourself if this person is qualified to dish out this kind of info.

Taking advice on how to grow your YouTube channel from someone who has 500 subscribers is very different than taking advice on how to grow your YouTube channel from someone who has 4million subscribers.  Taking advice on “how to quick your day job” from someone who has a day job is very different from taking advice from someone who has actually quit their day job.

In other words “Do not seek advice from someone who never left home” – Rumi.

This was something that Kyle Hanagami also echoed in the Growing Your Social Media room last night.

From BIG Fish to Little Fish

Regardless of who you are, what you have achieved, how big your social media following is, or how much money you make, you will encounter a room where people are “bigger”. They have a larger following, more subscribers, and command bigger brand deals.

When you are an audience member you listen to conversations that are way beyond your current reach and this can be demoralizing. This can be intimidating. This can make you want to re-evaluate your choices and the imposter-syndrome kicks in; do you really belong?

I have heard way too many conversations on Clubhouse that start with “I am not a big creator like you” or “I am nowhere near your level” or “You will laugh at me when you hear my question.”

YES, you do belong there.

I have not heard a single time where someone was laughed at or discouraged or thrown out of a room.

In fact, it’s the complete opposite.

People are in Clubhouse to give back to the community. They are there to share their knowledge and insights. To uplift the audience.

Se the opportunity to really connect and learn from people who inspire you or you can

I was in a room where Influencers, Agents, Talent Managers were discussing monetization strategies. I am at a level where I am doing ok with, but this was on another level. Instead of being intimidated, I took the opportunity to follow some really talented people and made frantic notes!

Left on read

Clubhouse doesn’t have a messaging facility. Therefore, “send me a DM” is something that you often hear in a room. This is where the moderator answers an audience member’s question and offers to connect with them on DM via Instagram or Twitter to offer further assistance.

While this sounds amazing, many times people say that they did exactly that but they never received a reply.

As frustrating as this is, and yes this has happened to me too, we must understand that the moderators must receive hundreds of these DMs. To answer each DM takes time and typically, if the moderator is a big influencer in their field, they have their notifications turned off.

On Instagram and Twitter, the DMs are sent to a holding-location so they are not mixed up into the DMs of the people the influencer follows. This is done to give the account holder some control of their messaging, prioritizing messages from people they actively chose to engage with.

Therefore, we need to cognizant of the fact that the Clubhouse user we are trying to reach may not have even seen the message.

Clubhouse has some other “issues”

Who is speaking? There is a faint grey box that appears around the active speaker’s name. This can be difficult to find when the stage is made of up of so many speakers that don’t all fit on one screen requiring you to scroll up and down to find the speaker.

Need to wait – in small rooms, when you raise your hand to ask a question, you are typically invited onto the stage fairly quickly. However, when you are in a large room, you can have your hand up for a while before being called on or can also not be called on at all. This can be frustrating but understandable as the speakers are giving of their time and they can be in a room for literally hours and hours.

Time suck – the info on Clubhouse can be so good that you spend hours and hours in a single room or going from room to room. I drained my battery several times!

No replay – I wish Clubhouse has a replay facility. Some rooms are so jam-packed with info that you can’t get it all in at once. There is no ability to listen to the discussion later. I understand that the appeal of Clubhouse is real-time voice chats, but when it’s 2 am and you need to get some sleep but don’t want to miss the conversation, this can be a problem.

Extremes – just like any other platform, Clubhouse isn’t all roses. There are very toxic rooms, there is anti-Semitism, homophobia, misinformation, and every other extremist rooms. Be aware of it and don’t be afraid to block and report.

https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1332088203654946818

So in summary:

I love the fact that you only need your phone and an internet connection. As no camera and no lights are required, the barrier to participate in Clubhouse is minimal.

I worry about the platform’s future when marketers start to use the platform to sell. This is inevitable as this is where a captivated audience is hanging out.

I also worry about “speaker fatigue”. Really talented and busy people are spending hours on the platform giving back to their respective communities. This is a BIGF time suck for them and I worry that at a point, for obvious reasons, they may restrict their time on Clubhouse.

Therefore, if you have the ability to join Clubhouse – do it now. Do it ASAP.

Being a “fly on the wall” in a room where ridiculously talented people are chatting about your favorite subject is incredible.

It’s like being able to attend a thousand mini-conferences from your phone and that is just pure gold.

Oh, and let’s connect on Clubhouse! Search for “@thetechieguy” or “Liron Segev”

Just gonna go on record: if you’re a serious creator and you’re NOT on clubhouse, you are truly doing yourself a disservice!

— The Man About Tech (@Vyyyper) January 19, 2021

Check out how I look for scammers with this method too!