By Stephanie Alicia James
Two connections 60 seconds apart from each other made one Friday a moment to remember and an opportunity to an amazing new world perspective.
This new perspective comes from such topics like marketing . “I created a whole world and stories around me,” she said while discussing marketing advice within a voice only app new to me at the time that features LIVE discussions.
Now this app I am referring to is Clubhouse, the social media app or the voice drop in chat app that people call it.
Let me tell you my discovery of Clubhouse was from a few Youtubers, which included Jessica Stansberry and Jade Choi from Million Dollar Challenge. They discussed it on their Youtube channel and talked about different rooms of discussions. It peaked my interest. So on February 12, I downloaded the app onto my Ipad. Now I did not realize that once I download the app the next step was critical in getting to use the app. That step was waiting. Once I downloaded the app I was informed that I was on a waitlist and in the meantime I can read Clubhouse maker’s blog post about the new invite only social media app. The blog post talked what clubhouse is and getting feedback from others as they improve the app.
“Clubhouse is a new type of network based on voice. When you open the app you can see ‘rooms’ full of people talking all open so you hop in and out, exploring different conversations,” this is written in the blog post.
Fast forward to February 26, 2021, I received an invitation, meaning no more wait list and now I can me a user of the app joining thousands who participate in discussions as well as listen in. I was informed of the invitation via two texts. I received the Clubhouse app text and one from my friend. For the first text, I was informed that I was moved to the front of the waitlist and that my Clubhouse account was ready. The second text my friend was making sure I received her invitation.
With the mute feature, Clubhouse immediately reminded me of Zoom. Now this comparison is not to definitely take away the uniqueness of the Clubhouse social media app. Oh yes, Clubhouse is different it is voice chat with no video.
The way it is set up there are different virtual rooms you can listen in on for various discussions. With some of the rooms, it reminds me of a radio show where different speakers talk. There are groups and individuals that you can follow similar to other social media platforms. Speaking of this, this takes me to the day, February 26, 2021, I received an invite to join Clubhouse. Now the way the invite shows on Clubhouse it is referred as nominated by then the person’s name that invited you.
I have listened to faith based topics to relationship advice on Clubhouse.
You can set up a profile that includes a biography information space where you have the opportunity to write in about yourself.
You can even read other people’s biography and check out their social media (if included) in their bio.
Get On Stage! Yes you! You can be a speaker on Clubhouse. You can be invited on stage to speak. Now how exciting is that! Now this happened to me on March 4 about six days after being invited to Clubhouse.
You can see photo and person’s name who is speaker. The other speaks are usually muted.
I was amazed at the variety of topics that are covered and various groups that have regular discussions scheduled at certain times.
Clubhouse users receive notifications on the times of the talks. These talks can consist of a wide range of topics from entrepreneurship and marketing to relationships to fitness. Other topics include standing out as a leader, strengthening your faith, and fitness advice.
One fitness group called Mind, Body Game, explores sport and fitness of the Mind and Body “through a holistic lens.” As of March 5, 2021 this group has daily discussions 7 am PST and 10 am PST. Every Thursday there is a weekly room discussion called Women In Performance Coaching, which I think is great that the group has this available.
On Friday morning on March 5, 2021, there was a discussion called Talk Less Do More: Celebrate Wellness Wins and Failures.
In early March 2021, I joined a group called Plant Based Food And Wellness. The group had a room called Daily Dish Plant Based On A Budget With Chef Lynnette. This peaked my interest because in the last two years I have been really interested in plant-based foods and recipes.
Now Clubhouse do not have discussions exclusively during day time business hours.
Even there are discussions in the middle of the night. On March 1 at 2 am, I discovered a discussion called “How To Do Customer and User Research.”
I love that a Youtuber that I followed years ago is on there. Her name is Samone Blakely, who goes by the name TorahCents. She is the founder of Curved to Cuffed, according to her bio on Clubhouse. Number one mentorship for successful woman of faith who want to attract quality, marriage minded men.
“My homework was to follow high quality men on Clubhouse,” she said.
Along with TorahCents information, I found a discussion about time management nice. Some of the apps mentioned for time management were Google Drive and Trelo. A person mentioned Calendy, which I just signed up for about a week prior.
The mocha creaminess of Clubhouse is that there are clubs for varying interests. Don’t like a lot of talking at certain times of the day, there is a club for that. This club is referred to as the Lullaby Club, “where we sing the world to sleep 7 nights a week.”
Also Youtuber Benji from It’s Judy’s Life was on there.
On February 27, 2021, Michelle Phan discusses her Youtube rise on Clubhouse.
A room called “Poetry Palace, No experience, No critique Open Mic.”
Do you really know what would Jesus do? By Sherri Jennings-Lawson
Other interesting clubs include Music Publishing 101, Makeup Artist Pro Community, The Law Student Link Up, which I followed on March 5, 2021. Books, Bagels, and Lattes.
To add to my peaked interest of topics, three days after I followed Books, Bagels, and Lattes I found a room early in the morning to be quite interesting. I went into a room that was created by the club referred to as Women Matter where they hosted all day forum events on Clubhouse for International Women’s Day (IWD). To start off the day, the first event was “IWD 2021Opening Ceremony With The Stars” – a room I discovered at 6:10 am and enjoyed the introduction for the start of my day. The room was moderated by Dr. Lola Adeyemi, a physician.
Now after the early morning discovering of the IWD opening ceremony, I was immediately hooked by what was to come next within this this room. There was singing. To my surprise Lullaby Club creator Axel Mansoor sung a beautiful song.
“Why does stars fall from the sky every time you walk by. Just like me they long to be close to you,” Mansoor sings as these words were part of an introduction to his song.
“Axel I could almost cry. That was phenomenal,” said Adeyemi.
The next person who sung was by Talia Dalton, a nationally recognized singer and songwriter. In a song entitled, “Deserve” she talks about how people are deserving of love.
“You do not have to prove yourself to anyone,” she sings while playing the guitar.
Like Adeyemi did with Mansoor, she praised Dalton.
“Talia that was beautiful,” said Adeyemi after Talia sung the song.
Also in the beginning of the IWD event, different speakers spoke on what the annual international women’s day means to them.
“It means courage and strength,” Jerry Coria said.
In his profile, he describes that he has earned a Daytime Emmy nomination and colloborations from brands like AT&T and McDonalds.
“We’re working hard to ship updates and get the app ready for the world. Below is a list of what we shipped in each recent release.”
In a February 8 update, they discussion “Share” link in rooms.
“Clubhouse now has improved voiceover support, so you can use the native IOS screenreader and navigate through the app.
Within the, Clubhouse Knowledge Center there is information on how to start a “club.”
Also, you can submit a question for Townhalls.
Right now as of March 5, 2021, they are setting up Club Manually.
“We also plan to have a self-serve clubs feature built in the app soon so you’ll be able to set one up instantly then!”, according to the written information within the app’s Clubhouse Knowledge Center.
“We do have an unusually high volume of club requests right now, so we prioritize clubs for people who have already hosted a weekly show three times,” the posts states.
So far I love the app.