Clubhouse vs Twitter Spaces

Audio Social Media Takeover 

We haven’t seen a new social media platform or ground-breaking features since 2016 when Tik Tok launched – and while it has its uses, it’s not a platform for everyone. But now, two new exciting changes to the social media sphere have come at once in the form of Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces. The two are now locked in a battle to dominate a new form of audio social networking that feels equal parts podcast, industry convention, and conference call.

Why now?
Let’s face it, social media has felt like a one-way communication recently. We are flooded with content. Networking is supposed to be a two-way exchange and strengthen relationships – and these two giants know it. The rise of audio social media allows individuals to connect and have two-way conversations. They are leading the way for audio social media and making it human again. Both are currently in beta phase; Twitter Spaces is being rolled out to a select testing group and Clubhouse is by invite only and solely available for IOS iPhone users at the moment (sorry, android lovers).

What’s what, in a nutshell….

Clubhouse

The Clubhouse app is all about audio chats – a.k.a. conversations. You join a room and have conversations with other users. Typically these are started around a specific topic. You can also join “clubs”, where you virtually congregate with people who are interested in certain subjects. These clubs often schedule regular “rooms” with guest speakers. Building a following on Clubhouse gives you the opportunity to re-engage your followers in another room sometime down the road. It’s very valuable “social capital”.

Twitter Spaces 

Twitter Spaces will run in a similar way to Clubhouse, it’s currently being rolled out and also in beta phase. Despite the excitement surrounding Clubhouse, it has a few downfalls. For example, you cannot DM people through the app. In Twitter Spaces you will be able to DM, follow and comment on various Twitter content pieces to help reinforce your relationship without having to leave the app. Therefore it appears slightly more user-friendly, and you could argue that once rolled out, it could have stronger social capital than Clubhouse. 

The Differences 

The hallway 

Clubhouse has a feature which allows users to highlight interesting rooms in the “hallway”. You can go through a feed of rooms and drop in and out of them as you see fit. 

Inhouse features 

Twitter Spaces will have the option to add emojis, tweet within Spaces and we are certain although we haven’t seen it yet, it will come with analytics. At the moment Clubhouse is pretty stripped back and there are no analytics we can see, it seems purely for conversation and networking purposes.

Reach 

Twitter arguably has a larger reach with 192 million people using it every day – compared to Clubhouse, which currently attracts 2 million users weekly.

Quality 

Although Twitter has more users, it’s arguable that Clubhouse is full of early adopters and innovators, therefore the quality of the connections you can make online is higher. You can connect directly with leaders of all the industries that you are interested in. That is, until Clubhouse opens up to everyone, and it gets flooded with users. 

FOMO 

Clubhouse has cleverly tapped into our collective FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). You have to be invited to be able to listen to all of these great talks and connect with its users, so non-members could be missing out on some great content. You can, of course, record the chats with the right set-up, but the ‘live’ energy in that talk will not be available again. Twitter will function in a similar way, except we predict you will find people reposting talks within the app – and therefore losing that sense of urgency that makes people want to join RIGHT NOW. 

Who is going to do it better?

It’s not the first endeavour for Twitter in the audio space. You can already create audio tweets and live broadcasts from your iPhone app. If it continues to maintain and improve this level of  quality, then it shouldn’t end up in the dust like Google+ 2.0, (remember that one? Probably not *ouch*).

Conclusion – Can Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces help us create more human online communities?

It’s pretty exciting to connect in a real way via these platforms. You feel more engaged, more inspired, and more connected to individuals when having conversations in this way. One thing we have already noticed is that groups and talks have a pretty positive vibe – even when discussing difficult topics. Facebook and Instagram have led the way for lurkers and trolls, who find it easy to type something hostile. Generally it’s much more difficult to do this in real life than via a text-based message. Hopefully these platforms will continue to be spaces that encourage open and honest conversations, and perhaps even ring in the end of online trolling once and for all. We are excited to see how each of these new spheres will develop and grow!

Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed this piece and the number of iPhones we managed to get into it, please share and comment below!