The unedited nature and serendipity of conversations makes Clubhouse a compelling platform for productive discussions on otherwise fraught topics
Elon Musk disrupts podcasting. PLUS: Robinhood's big mistake — I. Andreessen Horowitz and the backdoor pilot — Hey, did you hear Elon Musk went on Clubhouse? Tweets: @taylorlorenz , @jaycodon , @elissabeth , @leimer , @rafat , @marklittlenews , and @trengriffin See also Mediagazer Tweets: Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : Jake Paul on Clubhouse: “I just figured it out bro, this is LinkedIn where you can talk” @jaycodon : Some people in media are really upset by a16z expanding its media operation. Why? Companies have been doing content marketing for years. This is no different. They'll tell fluffy stories about technology. Journalists will report. Readers will find what they want. Elissa / @elissabeth : Insightful explainer on why Clubhouse is having a moment https://twitter.com/... Bradley Leimer / @leimer : Clubhouse's moment arrives https://www.platformer.news/ ... It's live, spontaneous, and a bit of a mess like early twitter. It does feel like radio a bit. If they fix the UI, temper down notifications, and make it more inclusive, it could be interesting. It's likely a privacy nightmare. @rafat : I still haven't found a use case for Clubhouse in my life, but at least this is the first good attempt at explaining the nuances of its appeal to non-hucksters who do like using it, by @CaseyNewton https://www.platformer.news/ ... Mark Little / @marklittlenews : In my early experience of Clubhouse, I have many questions about many potential unintended consequences, but also immediately feeling its value as an accelerant for communities based on passion, profession and potentially place. https://www.platformer.news/ ... Tren Griffin / @trengriffin : 1/ I was going to write about this “Elon does Live Clubhouse (Featuring Vlad)” event last night, but Casey made several key points before I could, so he preempted me in a good way. https://www.platformer.news/ ... “Because you're on a phone mediocre audio quality doesn't grate as much.” See also Mediagazer Expand More For Next Unexpand More For Next
PlatformerCasey Newton
Context & Ripple Effects
Clubhouse emerged during lockdowns alongside spontaneous drop-in voice and video rooms, then converted that attention into a Series B led by a16z while outlining creator payments and an Android app. The Musk appearance puts its live, unedited format in direct competition with more produced audio programming.
The appeal described here—serendipitous discussion of contentious subjects—is also the platform's constraint: later coverage questioned whether live audio supplies enough consistently compelling programming to retain users.
First-order effects
Clubhouse gains a high-profile proof point for live audio as an event format, with Elon Musk's appearance drawing attention that conventional podcast releases do not generate in real time.
Podcast creators and distributors face a new audience expectation: notable conversations can happen as participatory live moments rather than as edited, on-demand episodes.
Second-order effects
Clubhouse's planned creator-payment tests become more consequential, because converting event-driven attention into recurring hosts and audiences is necessary to sustain the format beyond celebrity appearances.
Rivals with established discovery or monetization systems have an opening if Clubhouse cannot address the limited virality and monetization paths identified in related coverage.
Third-order effects
Live social audio is testing whether conversation itself can be a durable media product: platforms that pair spontaneity with discovery, creator economics, and repeatable programming are better positioned than those relying on occasional marquee rooms.
The trend: Audio platforms are moving from packaged, edited programming toward live conversational formats whose long-term value depends on retaining audiences between headline events.
Some people in media are really upset by a16z expanding its media operation. Why? Companies have been doing content marketing for years. This is no different. They'll tell fluffy stories about technology. Journalists will report. Readers will find what they want.
Clubhouse's moment arrives https://www.platformer.news/ ... It's live, spontaneous, and a bit of a mess like early twitter. It does feel like radio a bit. If they fix the UI, temper down notifications, and make it more inclusive, it could be interesting. It's likely a privacy nig…
I still haven't found a use case for Clubhouse in my life, but at least this is the first good attempt at explaining the nuances of its appeal to non-hucksters who do like using it, by @CaseyNewton https://www.platformer.news/ ...
In my early experience of Clubhouse, I have many questions about many potential unintended consequences, but also immediately feeling its value as an accelerant for communities based on passion, profession and potentially place. https://www.platformer.news/ ...
1/ I was going to write about this “Elon does Live Clubhouse (Featuring Vlad)” event last night, but Casey made several key points before I could, so he preempted me in a good way. https://www.platformer.news/ ... “Because you're on a phone mediocre audio quality doesn't grate as…
So, @elonmusk tells world that he will be on Clubhouse tonight but many reporters can't listen because Marc Andreessen (Clubhouse's biggest investor) blocks them. So, yeah, reallly time to think abt power powerful people have to shape narrative exactly as they want. #propaganda
We'll have Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davison on @SquawkCNBC Monday morning to debrief the @elonmusk convo and discuss the future of Paul's fast-growing social media app @joinClubhouse https://twitter.com/...
If you missed last night's Good Time show on @joinClubhouse with @elonmusk & @vladtenev (hosted by @sriramk @aarthir @pmarca @stevesi & @garrytan) you can listen here: https://a16z-live.simplecast.com/ ... And subscribe to the new “a16z Live” pod for more Clubhouse chats & other …
Vlad's explanation of why Robinhood shutdown buys of $GME is so clear, why didn't he just say this on Thursday. Basically he says that Robinhood needed to give $3b as collateral, but after removing buys of volatile stocks they were able to go with only $700m in collateral. https:…
Listening to Elon chat on Clubhouse: Part of why you need journalists is for the tension. Without tension — even if it's a group of really interesting people talking — things get boring.
When will people realize that Clubhouse “may have been” powered by Agora, a Chinese real-time engagement firm? (Cue “the Chinese are listening in and collecting user data” alarm 🚨) https://www.cnbc.com/...
There have been multiple 1000+ person rooms *pre-gaming* tonight's Elon interview on @GoodTimeShowCH. Emergent behavior ftw! A year from now, what's a more interesting interview platform for a public figure: a Sunday primetime Clubhouse show or ‘60 Minutes’? https://twitter.com/.…
Talking to @elonmusk on Clubhouse right now, Robinhood CEO @vladtenev says the company's external clearinghouse partner, using a complicated formula tied to volatility, demanded it post $3 billion in collateral to back meme stock margin trades last Thursday.
Marc is a reg. speaker on nightly tech show listened to by 100k+ plus hosted by @sriramk. But b/c Marc often speaks, reporters he blocked can't listen w/ thousands of others. It is one thing to block people from sending you messages but listening to public conversations?
The chip in the monkey's skull uses “tiny wires” to connect it to its brain. Musk said “It's not an unhappy monkey” during a talk on #Clubhouse, @ElonMusk says his start-up @Neuralink has wired up a #monkey to play #VideoGames using its mind https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitt…
The implications of this are fascinating. Many of us are currently blocked by @theinformation. I am blocked by editors for talking about how there is absolutely no connection between restrictionism & xenophobia; a truism which no major paper acknowledges. Let's open this dialog? …
If you were asleep (like me) and missed @elonmusk chat on @joinClubhouse, this is a full summary. 🪐✨ Love the style - made me feel like I was listening. When he grilled Robinhood CEO at the end...🔥 https://twitter.com/...
Media companies are direct competitors with tech companies, as you have documented. There's no reason to give free content to competitors. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Last night @elonmusk appearance was the tipping point moment for @joinClubhouse. It was far more human then AMAs of the text world. It was the perfect presentation of the modern AM radio call-in/talk show reconstituted in this epoch. Humans are #VoiceFirst. https://twitter.com/..…
A prominent podcaster said on CH that they allow their guests review the episodes before publishing. No journalist is ever going agree to that, but if a VC can get distribution from talking to this podcaster, why should they speak to you? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No matter what anyone tells you, this “going direct” thing is a real challenge to the journalism industry. Public figures don't need to subject themselves to the indignity of questions they might find embarrassing or difficult. Case in point, Beyoncé: https://www.nytimes.com/...
And now tech and business journalists will have to decide if they will cover @elonmusk's interview with @sriramk and @aarthir like entertainment journalists have to cover celebrities' Instagram posts.
Never in my life would I have thought that I'd be up at 11:30 at night listening to Elon Musk interview the CEO of Robinhood and be completely captivated by it. Clubhouse is wild.
Wow, @vladtenev (Robinhood CEO) talking about his crazy weekend on Clubhouse, “says I just randomly downloaded this app last week” He got put in touch with @elonmusk for crisis control stuff re the week https://twitter.com/...
So is Clubhouse about exclusivity after all? 5,000 people in a room feels like a low number for radio/podcast/twitch streams. But 99% of people in there will interact with Elon as much as if they were listening there.
all the boring sycophants “interviewing” elon on clubhouse tonight were so pathetic that when elon called up the robinhood ceo for a surprise chat and actually asked him real questions the room was like “wow elon is an investigative journalist” lmao
@pmarca Do you think the mars civilization will turn out differnetly than earth bc of how hard it was to get it started? @elonmusk - yea. probably will. the fact that you can only go every 2 years.. that time gap will mean that there's a new cohort arriving every 2 yrs.
I don't think good PR solves a company's problems, because you can't explain/spin away your problems. But man does Robinhood need PR help: Transparency/context is what you're supposed to provide on day 1 of your crisis - not days later to Elon Musk in a semi-private chat room. ht…
One of the things we lost when tech became mainstream is that tech journalism devolved into - talking about how much money was being made - creating narratives about “good” & “bad” companies There is a hunger for just talking earnestly about tech again https://twitter.com/...