[W Forum] The Rollercoaster of Clubhouse

"Do you 'Clubhouse'?"

The audio-based social media platform Clubhouse has attracted great attention both domestically and internationally, with membership status becoming a criterion for being considered an "insider." Developed by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, graduates of Stanford University, Clubhouse began its beta service in May 2020. Despite requiring invitations or approvals from existing users to join, its weekly active users (WAU) surged from 600,000 in December last year to over 10 million by March this year. Before even reaching its first anniversary, Clubhouse showed remarkable growth, with its corporate value estimated at about 1 trillion KRW earlier this year, elevating it to unicorn status. However, recently, Clubhouse's popularity has sharply declined, and Twitter halted negotiations to acquire it for $4 billion, signaling a crisis for the platform. What are the reasons behind Clubhouse's rollercoaster rise and fall in popularity?

Clubhouse, based on real-time voice chat, targeted the niche audio format market that existing social media platforms had not focused on. Although video platforms like YouTube have increased audio-centric content such as music and ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response), Clubhouse differentiated itself as a social media platform that communicates solely through "voice." In other words, Clubhouse met the growing social connection needs during the so-called "untact era" by maintaining physical distance from others while eliminating the discomfort of showing one's face, as required in video calls or chats. Users can feel intimacy through voice, and unlike video or chat usage, their eyes and hands remain free, enabling multitasking. It also offers the convenience of multi-party communication, allowing several people to converse simultaneously.

Various topics have been discussed on Clubhouse. Compared to video, it requires less preparation and psychological burden, so anyone with something to say can easily start a conversation and share the latest information on timely subjects. Since conversations happen in real-time rather than pre-edited content, communication is more vivid, and users can enjoy the raw, unrefined liveliness. The content of real-time conversations is not saved or recorded, making it highly ephemeral. Therefore, participants tend to be more focused during conversations of interest, while creators can speak more comfortably and freely.

Above all, Clubhouse's popularity paradoxically stemmed from its exclusivity. Available only on the iOS operating system and requiring invitations from existing users, it sparked curiosity and triggered "FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)"?the worry of being left out. Moreover, the platform's popularity soared as activities of famous figures such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Brad Pitt, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, and Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin became known, with invitation passes even traded on secondhand marketplaces.

However, Clubhouse, which had emerged as a new social media platform with differentiated features such as scarcity, immediacy, and ephemerality, has faced challenges. Due to scalability limitations, it was seen as a closed world and neglected, while issues such as security, hate speech, misinformation, and fake accounts surfaced. Additionally, while the presence of previously hard-to-access celebrities decreased, some users began controlling conversations, exhibiting vertical communication tendencies that reproduce social hierarchies alongside exclusivity, drawing criticism. Furthermore, competition has intensified with the emergence of similar services.

Although Clubhouse discovered new value as a retro voice-based social media platform in an era flooded with videos, the rollercoaster of its popularity has proven that users ultimately determine its value. It will be interesting to see whether Clubhouse can regain users' love and establish itself firmly in the future.

Choi Se-jung, Professor, Department of Media and Graduate School, Korea University