Clubhouse says it won't require access to users' phone contacts anymore, and announces a creator accelerator program that will initially accept 20 participants
New and existing Clubhouse users will no longer have to grant phone-contact access to use the service.
The initial 20 accelerator participants become Clubhouse's first explicitly selected cohort under the new creator program.
Second-order effects
Removing a compulsory contact-data input makes Clubhouse more dependent on other ways to help users find relevant rooms and people, after its prior onboarding ranked uploaded contacts by connection totals.
The accelerator extends Clubhouse's earlier creator pilot from an experimental cohort into a more selective creator-development mechanism.
Third-order effects
Taken together, the moves point toward a growth model in which Clubhouse seeks participation through creator support rather than required access to a user's address book.
If that approach persists, creator programs and in-product discovery—not imported contact graphs—will become the more important levers shaping who gains reach on Clubhouse.
The trend: Clubhouse is pairing tighter permission boundaries with more deliberate creator cultivation as it shifts its early growth playbook.
Today's Town Hall Updates: We are launching our first creator accelerator program, Clubhouse Creator First. We are looking to support and equip 20 creators w/ resources they need to bring their ideas and creativity to life. Details and application here: https://creatorfirst.joinc…
Clubhouse no longer requires contacts access for sending invites in the latest update! You can now directly enter the number, or use the iOS contact picker (which doesn't require contacts access) to send invite Glad to see these privacy improvements! https://twitter.com/...
product updates: Link sharing- You can now share a link to your profile or club Language filtering- we will learn what language rooms you tend to join and filter the others Invite via phone #- don't have them in your contacts? You can invite them by typing in their phone #
This is one of the reasons I'm super excited to see Clubhouse announce their Creator First accelerator: https://twitter.com/... And Substack's Pro program (alongside their Fellowship etc etc) https://twitter.com/... I expect every new creator-led company to do the same
The Clubhouse CEO said “users can reach out to the company to delete previously-uploaded contacts, and that a tool to allow users to delete contacts from Clubhouse is coming soon.” 😐 https://www.theverge.com/...
Wonder if @a16z & clubhouse will go after @nytimes / @voxdotcom / etc journalists/podcasters with these up front cash payments 🤔 @karaswisher have they made an offer?! 😂 https://twitter.com/...
@Techmeme @SocialKimLy Clubhouse told me almost a month ago they'd add this contact deleting tool. You still have to email the company if you want your data off its servers: https://www.wsj.com/...
I wanted to but haven't been able to create a club though you have now allowed people to do it themselves. No “plus sign” appears on my profile that I could tap and create a club. Same profile: @neeleshmisra https://twitter.com/...