How to use Clubhouse

Audio Social Media is certainly here to stay. With both Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces launching just months apart from one another, the race for social sphere domination is ON.

Since its launch, there has been a real buzz surrounding Clubhouse, the invite-only audio app. In just a few months the platform has gone from 600,000 active users to 10 million (New York Times).

When you first jump on the app, it can be a bit overwhelming as you try to play catch-up with its earliest adopters. We’ve put together a guide on how to use Clubhouse and how you can make the most of it. 

1. Get your golden ticket invitation 

Cleverly playing on our inherent FOMO [Fear Of Missing Out], access to Clubhouse is currently by invite only, and the app is solely available for iPhone users (sorry, android lovers). However, due to its growing audience it shouldn’t be long until a friend or colleague can invite you in. 

People can also nominate you once they see you are on the waitlist, so it may be a good idea to register and fill in your profile just in case. If you are invited, make sure you follow the link sent to you via text message. 

You will then be asked to complete your profile with email address, username, and password.

2. Connect your accounts 

It’s really important you connect your Instagram and Twitter accounts. Clubhouse has no direct message functionality. So if you want to use the app for networking and not just listening in, you will need to add your accounts so people can direct-message you. 

3. Pick topics of interest and follow users.

After you have filled in your basic information upon registration, you can pick the topics you’re interested in. This will help the app to customise the content you see, and adapt your overall user experience. You will then be asked to follow people based on who is in your phone book.

Then, Clubhouse will ask you to access your contacts and use your topic preferences to suggest both people you might know and influencers you might be interested in following.

If you don’t want to select any topics or follow any people just yet, that’s okay. You can do all of these things later.

4. Set up your profile

Now you are all set up, it’s time to give your profile some love! 

The first two lines on your profile is what people see when they click on you, so you want to make sure that this is your ‘elevator pitch’. 

A great example of a complete profile is the one of Rob Moore: 

5. Scroll the hallway [home feed]

Once you’re all set up, start exploring. The first place to check out is Clubhouse’s homepage. While there isn’t an icon for this, you can access it by clicking the back button in the upper left corner of any other page on the app.

6. Explore other users, clubs, and rooms

Click the magnifying glass to find other users, conversations, rooms and clubs. There is a suggested ‘follow’ section, or you can search for rooms and clubs by topic.

7. Join Clubs

Clubs are groups of users that are interested in the same topics. You have to request to join a club and once you’re in, you will be notified of rooms hosted by them. A great way to find clubs is to go through different users accounts and find out what clubs they are part of. 

8. Start a club

You can apply to start a club. Although there is a bit of a waiting list for this at the moment and they are prioritising people who have hosted three rooms on Clubhouse.

9. Drop into a room

When you enter a room and want to drop in, you will already be muted as a listener.

The individuals with a green star sticker are the moderators. Below the speakers, you will see who they follow and then a section for who is in the room. If you see a party popper emoji (or 🎉) on someone’s image, it means they’re new to Clubhouse.

10. Want to speak?

If you want to ask a question you can click the hand button and then the moderators will invite you up to the ‘stage floor’ to ask a question. It’s really important when this happens that you mute yourself when you are not speaking to avoid any background noise.  Try to avoid speaking over others, wait for a pause and then unmute which will signal to others that you want to speak. 

11. Add friends to a room

Love a room you’re listening to and want your friends to hear the discussion, too? Press the “+” button in the lower navigation of a room to select and add followers.

12. Leave a room

Rooms can go on for hours or even days, so feel free to leave when you need to. All you have to do is tap “Leave.”

13. Check out the calendar 

If you don’t have time to listen to a room right now, check the calendar to see upcoming room suggestions. With so many great talks and fascinating topics to follow, cherry-pick and plan your Clubhouse schedule so you don’t miss out!

If you see a room you’re interested in, tap the notification symbol on it to get a phone alert when the event starts.

By tapping on the scheduled room, you can also share about it on social media or add a reminder to your calendar.

14. Invite friends

When I started my Clubhouse account, I – and many of my friends – received just two invites. Then, about two days later, I received three more. While it’s unclear if everyone receives the same amount of invites, you’ll likely get at least two to start with.

If you have a phone contact that’s excited to join Clubhouse, tap on the icon that looks like an opened invitation to search and invite your contact list.

Once you invite someone, they should receive a message with instructions on how to join Clubhouse, similar to the one I’ve shown in Step One of this list.

Additionally, their profile will note that you nominated them to join Clubhouse, which could help their friends or followers to find you later.