Last Updated on 17/10/2021 by Drashti
Clubhouse is the latest social network to storm the world, which can only mean one thing: Facebook is going to clone it.
This is not the first time that Facebook has tried to get rid of its competitors by cloning it. Facebook is infamous for its mischievous behaviour.
Facebook has never been shy about the cloning of features by competitors. And if it can’t beat the competition, it just buys them, like Instagram and WhatsApp. Since the purchase of Instagram, Facebook has introduced features such as Stories and Reels that have been inspired by Snapchat and TikTok. Facebook also cloned Zoom after the popularity of the video conferencing app.
“Facebook executives have ordered employees to create a similar product, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly,” the New York Times wrote.
Facebook is developing a Clubhouse-like audio chat app, but the project is in the very early stages.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg actually appeared in a Clubhouse room over the weekend to talk about AR and VR, so he had to really enjoy the experience. Apparently, Zuckerberg has been interested in audio communication for some time now.
Clubhouse, launched in early 2020 by entrepreneurs Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, has gained traction as a private, invite-only iPhone app among Silicon Valley’s elite.
Clubhouse saw explosive growth in user numbers earlier this month after Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev had a surprising discussion on the platform.
Dozens of celebrities—from Drake and Tiffany Haddish to Jared Leto and co-founder of Instagram—appeared, joining different discussions and using the service to promote their projects.
The demand for invitations to the less-than-a-year-old service-members get to invite a limited number of friends during their pre-launch period-is so hot, the market for them has grown on platforms like Reddit, eBay, and Craigslist.
In China, invitations are being sold to Alibaba’s second-hand marketplace, Idle Fish, even though Clubhouse is not available in the Apple app store in that country.
In Japan, the service has been swarmed by investors, tech workers and the media.
The exclusive app is currently only available at Apple Inc’s iOS store and has seen a surge in use since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The app is in “beta,” which means it’s still in the test phase before the release.
Essentially, people can join a room where hosts can chat about any subject they want, from activism to sports to photography. It’s like a modern chat room, but you use audio instead of text. Needless to say, it’s a hot new thing, with the social network already capturing 2 million weekly users, according to NYT.
What makes Clubhouse so popular is that it allows people to get advice and exchange information on important topics. For example, you can get advice from business experts or learn about photography from people who have spent years in the industry.
Facebook is not the only social network with a view to Clubhouse. Twitter has also begun testing a Clubhouse-like feature called Spaces, which will allow like-minded individuals to chat together.
