A Year of Clubhouse

2021 started with lots of talk about Clubhouse, a then-new service with the novel idea of connecting people via audio-only rooms in an invite-only app.

I started out thinking it'd come and go very quickly because who really wants to talk these days? But it turns out the platform generated enough excitement to make some people want to talk and even more people want to listen.

The trend speaks for itself, but here are my top takeaways from a year of looking at Clubhouse:

1. Since launching back in 2020, Clubhouse was downloaded by 28 million iPhone and Android users all over the world.
2. Downloads peaked at 8.7 million in June, right after the Android app was released. It beat the previous peak of 5.5 million from February.
3. The downloads are split evenly between iPhones and Android devices, even though the Android app was only released in May of 2021.
4. Non-English speaking countries download Clubhouse more than English-speaking ones. India leads the way with 9.5 million downloads, followed by the U.S., Thailand, Egypt, and Japan.

I think the novelty of audio-only wore off fairly quickly. A few poorly timed (aka. delayed) actions from the team also seem to have wasted the excitement that was brewing back in February. I'd say it's the end, but more formidable opponents have tried to replicate this model and failed, so maybe there's something there?

I never fully got into Clubhouse, but when I did use it, there was more mess than value. Was the experience any different for you?