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In Silicon Valley it's a mixture of accolade and panic room.
When Facebook starts up its cloning machine, start-ups can be sure of two things: They have the right nose.
And it becomes uncomfortable for them.
This should describe the condition of the clubhouse makers very well after the "New York Times" reported that Facebook has now commissioned a competitor product to Clubhouse from its own developers.
And with that it is also clear: The social network does not want to watch the new offerings go by.
The audio app Clubhouse has not even really started.
The service is only accessible by invitation and is still in beta mode.
Users log into the app and are greeted with some live virtual rooms where they can see a list of people attending.
As soon as they click on a room, the sound turns on and they can hear the conversation, but are still muted themselves.
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But you can raise a virtual hand and thus signal that you want to speak too.
The moderator who opened the room can now activate the microphone.
Basically, Clubhouse is a live podcast that anyone can participate in.
The application is currently only available for Apple's iPhones.
But that should change.
As the two clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth announced in a blog entry, a version for Android smartphones is in preparation.
iPhone users, it seems, are rushing to the app.
In Apple's AppStore, it is number one of the most popular social media apps in many countries, including Germany.
Clubhouse was valued at $ 1 billion
So the hustle and bustle of Facebook is no surprise.
Because in Silicon Valley every success arouses desires.
And the audio chat app is still a high-flyer.
Even if the company is not particularly generous with numbers, Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison has revealed that around two million people currently use the app at least once a week.
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According to the analysis firm App Annie, the iPhone application has been downloaded from the store 5.3 million times worldwide, most often in the USA, where it has been available since last year.
But in Germany too, more than half a million people have downloaded the app onto their iPhone.
Despite everything, the real breakthrough is still pending.
As before, start-up entrepreneurs, PR professionals, influencers, politicians and journalists in particular cavort in the audio rooms of the Clubhouse.
Accordingly, it is about topics such as digitization, venture capital or the clubhouse itself. A look at the Google search queries for clubhouse shows: people from Hamburg and Berlin are most interested.
It is hardly surprising that it does not take long before the first Clubhouse copies are launched.
Especially since Clubhouse was valued at a billion dollars in the latest financing round just under a year after its start.
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Clubhouse is now entering an area that start-up entrepreneurs also call the “death zone”, which is spreading around larger Internet companies and preventing such services from becoming successful in the medium and long term.
Often one of two fates overtakes them: they are either bought or they are copied.
Twitter and Facebook are busy copying
The fact that Facebook is now making a copy should worry Clubhouse.
The social network has shown how active it can be in the death zone.
In 2012, for example, Facebook bought the Instagram photo service for around one billion dollars, shortly before the company was able to go public.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg planned a similar venture with Snapchat.
But when the company declined, Facebook copied the popular Snapchat story feature for its Instagram service, which allows users to create stories with videos and images that are available 24 hours a day.
Apparently, the company knows exactly what Facebook intends to copy.
Last Sunday, CEO Zuckerberg himself went to a clubhouse room and talked about his plans with augmented and virtual reality.
In January, Tesla boss Elon Musk had himself interviewed there.
The short message service Twitter has also long been on the trail of Clubhouse.
The company is considering integrating such a function, called “Spaces”, into its own service.
A corresponding test run has reportedly just been expanded.
So far, several thousand users of the Twitter iPhone app have been able to test the function.
"Spaces is a place where you can come together, built around the voices of the people who use Twitter," says Twitter.
“Spaces are active as long as they are open;
as soon as they are over, they are no longer publicly available on Twitter. ”That sounds like a functional description of the Clubhouse app.
Earning a living on clubhouse
Twitter is also experienced in copying functions.
The service implemented the Snapchat story in its app as “Fleets” - Twitter posts that are automatically deleted after 24 hours.
It is therefore clear that what works once with popular Internet services does not stay alone for long.
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Despite all the competition, the fear of contact does not seem to be too great.
Because the more celebrities take part in discussions in the clubhouse, the more attractive the service appears.
They indirectly become ambassadors.
The visit by Facebook boss Zuckerberg Clubhouse is likely to have made it a little more popular.
Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger has also been seen at Clubhouse.
In contrast to Twitter and Facebook in their early days, Clubhouse apparently already has a clear idea of how the company wants to make money one day.
"There are so many incredible people who are smart, who are funny, who have expertise, who are just great at bringing people together," said Clubhouse CEO Davison in an interview with the American television broadcaster CNBC.
“And what we want to enable them is that they can make a living directly on Clubhouse through things like subscriptions and paid events, and getting tips from listeners who they like to pay directly for the experiences they create for them. “Clubhouse should keep part of it to itself.
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Source: WELT / Fanny Fee Werther