Clubhouse voice chat leads a wave of spontaneous social apps

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

As far as how humans connect to one another, what’s next appears to be group chats and private messaging and forums, returning back to a time when we mostly just talked to the people we know. Maybe that’s a better, less problematic way to live life. Maybe feed and algorithms and the “global town square” were a bad idea. But I find myself desperatel... See more

Clubhouse is an audio-only social network where people can listen in to live chats and discuss various topics, like tech or sports. Started in 2020, the company got millions of users and a billion-dollar valuation in less than a year. It looks like an overnight success, but Davison and Seth had launched various consumer social apps over the previou

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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.”

The social internet was frozen in place only a few months ago — ruled by incumbents, governed by existing behaviors, feeling overly promotional, and slowed by lack of appetite or need for something new. Now the ice has broken and new social experiences are being invented daily, at work, in virtual classrooms, and in our personal lives. Driven by th... 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.