Summary
The Clubhouse app is for your live audio discussion with millions of users that can join a room and listen to the topic discussion. These rooms can have moderators to lead the discussion, the speakers of the said room or event, the stage, which refers to the users permitted to speak, and the live audience.
You can invite people to join rooms, schedule the rooms in advance, or go through your feed and Explore the page to search for rooms, clubs, and other users.
The Clubhouse app was launched in April 2020 and founded by Rohan Seth and Paul Davison. It’s an audio-based social media platform where its users can join rooms for discussing various topics, from music to science, marketing, and more.
In this article, I will go into detail about the use of this application to give first times users a better understanding.
Clubhouse: An Audio-Based Social Media Platform
With its 10 million active users, the app focuses more on discussions and sharing ideas between users, which gained popularity for its chat-interface style. Thus, you can build and belong to communities by joining rooms and clubs.
I’ll walk you through how the Clubhouse platform works, how to navigate through its features, and help you get started on starting your room or joining one.
1. Rooms
The live audio rooms are where users meet and listen to the speakers’ discussion, which may also have moderators to host the discussion around a certain topic. There are also different types of Clubhouse rooms:
- Open rooms – ones that are open to the public
- Closed room – for selected people invited to have a private conversation with
- Social room – for trusted conversations between users that the moderators follow
2. How To Start A Room
To start a room, tap on the “Start a Room” green button and choose from the following types of rooms: the open, closed, or social room. Then, you can proceed to choose a topic and add its title.
You can now go live and invite people to join your room.
If you want to switch to an open room on a closed room, tap the “Open It Up…” button beside the text that says, “This is a closed room.”
However, if you want a more organized program for your discussion, you can schedule the event by tapping on the calendar icon and adding details for your upcoming event.
3. The Stage And Audience
Users in “the stage” of the room are placed at the top of the room. These users have permission to speak.
Those who aren’t part of the stage group are the audience, which is the rest of the users, and they shouldn’t interrupt the speaker once they enter the room and during the discussion.
4. The Moderator
The moderator’s users have the green star icon beside their name under their profile. This means that they’re allowed to speak.
Such moderators play the role of hosting the rooms accordingly and the following:
- They can also invite users, moderators, and other speakers
- Provide moderator badges to anyone
- Mute or Remove people from the stage
- Shut the room down
- Be able to speak anytime
How To Assign Moderators
You can assign users to be your moderators in your rooms by following these steps:
- The moderator who is to be assigned should already be in the room as an audience.
- Tap on their profile icon and select “Invite to speak,” they will now be a speaker on the stage.
- Tap on their profile icon again and select “Make a moderator.”
Paid Pro Moderators
Paid pro moderators are the people who are paid to moderate or host rooms, which influencers or creators mostly hold.
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Tips On Moderating A Room
You can follow tips to keep your discussion smoothly sailing and engaging, not just for the audience but also for the speakers.
Setting Rules On The Room
Setting rules would help you to organize and minimize confusion for the audience, especially for the queues on when to discuss or ask questions. The house rules would help to manage the event and let people act accordingly and respectively among each other.
Make A Quick Refresh On What’s Happening
It’s good to pace your audience on what’s going on or happening in the room and keep everyone on the same page. New users join the room occasionally, so it’s also a good way to get them oriented on what’s happening at the event.
5. Raise Your Hand
You can ask questions or join the discussion by raising your hand and getting unmuted, so you’ll have the chance to speak. This is beside the “Leave quietly” button.
Leaving A Room
The users can join and leave the room anytime they want to. Such room discussions can last for several hours or even days, so it’s okay to leave the room anytime.
You can tap on the “leave” button, or if you want to leave without the need to notify others, tap “Leave quietly.” Moderators and speakers may have to notify or announce if they’re about to leave the room when necessary. This will help the audience not to be left hanging on whether they should wait for the next speaker or leave the room.
6. Club
Clubs are a way for people to co-host rooms together. They operate the same way a user follows a profile, so once you’re part of the club, you’ll be notified of the coming event or live discussion in a room.
Joining A Club
The clubs have similar features to those of Facebook or LinkedIn Groups. You can join clubs by looking through your Explore page or the club’s name by tapping on the search bar.
Tap on the “Follow” button, and once you’re in the club, you’ll receive notifications of the club’s hosted rooms.
Starting A Club
For you to be able to apply for clubs, you’ll be required to host three room discussions atleast.
- Go to the Settings page and click on the Clubhouse Knowledge Center link to get the application link.
- Once the application is approved, you’ll be notified and be able to edit your club’s profile and create rooms.
The applications are manually approved and only allow one club per user to be created.
Getting Started With Clubhouse
1. Accept The Invite And Invite Friends
Once you’ve registered for an account, you’ll set up your profile and notify you that you’re part of the waiting list. Your contacts will be notified that you’re now on the Clubhouse and can invite you to be a full user.
2. Setting Up Your Profile
If you link your Twitter to your Clubhouse account, the app can auto-generate your Clubhouse profile as it gets the same profile icon, username, and bio information.
Upload A Profile Pic
To get easily recognized by any users or colleagues, upload a profile picture, mostly headshots of the users.
Filling Out Your Bio
You can fill out long texts of bios, compared to Instagram or Twitter. Bios can help you easily recognize and attract more followers by listing your achievements, projects, or advocacies.
Start your Bios with a strong opener or info about yourself since users who click on your profile icon get to see a snippet first of your profile, including the first few texts in your bio.
Connect Your Instagram And Twitter
Connecting your Instagram and Twitter accounts lets the other users see the link to these social accounts. This will help let the other users know your other platforms where they can connect with you.
Add Relevant Keywords
The platform will recommend you use relevant keywords, especially in your bio. Users use such keywords to search for your profile.
3. Add Topics of Interest
Choose the topics of your interest so the app will be able to recommend contents that you’ll most likely engage with. The platform will also ask for access to your contacts and use your topic interests to suggest users you may want to follow.
Clubhouse Rooms To Check Out
The Clubhouse Rooms make the platform alive and a way for you to get interesting topics from such rooms. Check out these types of rooms and get engaged with each of their discussions:
- Live theatre rooms – for jazz band sessions and musicals
- Comedy rooms – for standup comedy shows
Conclusion
You’ll be able to use your Clubhouse app now as you’ve known how to use the following features and start being a moderator or a speaker in rooms.
There are also thousands of rooms and clubs to check out on your Explore page; you can join in for discussions or follow the recommended people on the platform.
Want to know more about other social network guides? Check any of these posts!
