Clubhouse voice chat leads a wave of spontaneous social apps

On trend and on theme, Clubhouse leverages the last unused social channel (voice) at a time when people are tired of seeing each other on Zoom videos and want a bit of spontaneity, serendipity and joy in their lives.

I’ve seen many businesses trying to solve the problem of individuals getting together offline for activities. Existing solutions to this problem seem to be good enough; we can text easily to set up these plans.

It’s clear what they see as Zoom’s biggest shortcoming: serendipity. Both Branch and With use the word “serendipity” in their one-line homepage descriptions, while Huddle opts for “spontaneity” and Gather promises that you’ll “bump into your colleagues.”

Part of what I’ve found really serendipitous and fun about this is that it’s not a schedule. On the weekend, I’ll be playing guitar on my couch and create a room, and it’s like, “alright who wants to come by and hang out?” And it’s just a completely different kind of interaction than anything that any of our technology is enabling us to have today ... See more

The key technology that Branch and others are using to create spontaneity is spatial gaming infrastructure. At its core, the technology allows users to only hear people within their nearby proximity, and get quieter as they “walk” away. It gives the feeling of a hallway bump-in.

The jury is still out on whether Clubhouse is the next decacorn or the next Quibi, but one thing is certain: the app introduced millions of consumers to the world of social audio, which will surely drive greater innovation in the space.