In 2020 and 2021, the world of social media seemed to be on the verge of a complete change. A new app called TikTok was on the rise, bringing a whole new type of vertical video to phones everywhere. And another app — not quite as popular, but growing fast, and already hugely influential among the tech set — seems to have a whole new social idea on its hands. It was called Clubhouse, and it was a huge bet that audio could be in the future. It was the next big thing, until it wasn’t.
On this episode of Version date, We tell the story of Clubhouse’s early days, and how a simple audio group chat app evolved into a booming entertainment and creative platform. Platformers Casey Newton and Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman caught up with David Pearce to talk about how the app works, why tech guys are so drawn to it, and ultimately the ways in which timing was the best and worst thing that ever happened to Clubhouse. What would this app have been without the global pandemic and months of lockdowns that left people scrambling for any kind of connection? We will never know. But it would have been different.
This is the second episode of the third season. Version date. Here’s how to catch every episode, and all our fun stuff, as it drops:
And if you want to learn more about the full story of the clubhouse — and yes, remind yourself of a little life during lockdown — here are some links to get you started:
