Clubhouse needs creators, but creators need cash | Hacker News Reader

Clubhouse needs creators, but creators need cash

theverge.com

54 points0xedb24 comments

Clubhouse has many problems, including English-speaking hallways being taken over by rooms full of disinformation (particularly around COVID). Many of the doctors who try to correct this have been chased off the app via harassment, and Clubhouse seem to have no interest in fixing the issues.[1]

[1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/93ypm5/doctors-are-being-for...

Disclaimer: I've been helping a group of doctors to counter the disinformation rooms and clubs on Clubhouse and I'm quoted in the VICE article.

There’s nothing unique about clubhouse in this. Doctors have been chased off of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and HN too - the ones who haven’t voluntarily left after seeing how ignorant confidence operates on these channels.

What kind of "disinformation" are we talking about here? lol

I see enough feel-good emoji-laden bullshit posts on LinkedIn, why would anyone subject themselves to an audio chatroom of the same?

Sounds like good acquisition synergy.

I am based in India and joined clubhouse in january.

I have created hundreds of hours of content on clubhouse, run multiple clubs each with thousands of members.

I like the community. made many friends.

we onboarded many top film celebrities on clubhouse for our events.

applied twice for creator program not got selected. anything new we created in my clubs we had copycats replicating the ideas even room title.

after reading article creator program does not seem successful .

clubhouse app still lacks key features which can help creators. - have to use third party service for analytics, - have to use a second phone to record content as audience, if you are mod audio notification of people hand raising is distracting. - irig2 and additional cables and adapters and mixers if you want to create studio quality content.

have reduced content creation by about 80% in last 2 months

looking for some platform gives a better monetisation options for creators.

now building a NFT platform for creators

This and the doctor comment capture my impression of Clubhouse. It can't clamp down on bad actors because then its "user engagement" numbers would plummet, it can't get any sponsors to pay creators because it cannot show any reasonable revenue upside for the sponsors. It can't clamp down on copycats or pirates because then the amount of content on the site would drop precipitously.

Typical chicken and egg problem and no path to bootstrap the first chicken.

You should checkout Twitter spaces.

With the BTC tipping functionality, I think it'll be a great place for monetizing creator content.

One of these platforms needs to pull a YouTube and share their own revenues. They don't realize that they are nothing without good creators, and consistency requires compensation, eventually.

If you're doing audio then just stick to podcasts. There's several mature platforms for monetization at expert or beginner levels. You can use social media channels to build audience and just something like anchor, acast, simplecast, transistor to whatever to host and monetize the content.

> now building a NFT platform for creators

How does this solve any of problems you outlined earlier? I guess you could sell NFTs to generate income; but what’s the platform that provides everything else you spoke about?

I sort of disagree with the headline of the OP.

Yes, at some point, if someone is going to make a full-time living doing something, they probably need an income stream from it unless they have a significant other source of income/wealth.

At the same time, there's this attitude related to a lot of digital creative goods that because it's essentially free to reproduce, you "ought" to be able to build a business out of it. In the past most people wouldn't have assumed the same of their pottery or woodworking hobby.

But today, for many, it needs to be at least a "side hustle."

The headline is definitely incorrect in terms of framing the problem. The foundational creators that spark a platform do not require cash.

The foundations of YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok were not based on creators/influencers getting large piles of cash. That all came later with mass adoption by the general public.

The problem with Clubhouse is that the general public is not very interested in the product and never will be. There's nothing they're going to be able to do to force that as it's fundamental. The only thing a lot more cash would accomplish is that it'll be vaporized.

What about Substack?

I just thought about Clubhouse the other day. It's as if we have entered a time in which there are one-hit-wonders in social media apps, just like in pop music.

I think turning their app into this shielded walled garden has been their demise from the beginning. I heard about the app, but it wasn't really enough to get me to download it. Might've been different if they had some decent content-first public interface that has some selection of stuff to offer, to get me more interested. I'm also not a fan of this ad pattern of making access to the app seem like an exclusive privilege by being invite-only, it feels like a worn-out trick.

I actually really liked it when there were fewer people...it felt like a clubhouse. As it grew, it felt more like a warehouse to me and I liked the private party feel more than the rave. Eventually, I think many of the earlier people left as new people came and I'd be fascinated to see the demographic turnover and shifts over time.

We have always been in that time. YikYak and Yo ring a bell?

There was a time I wanted to join and see what they were all about, but I couldn't. By the time they let me in, I'd lost interest. Maybe don't turn away users next time.

The hype is now over: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=clubhouse

They will keep rolling until the cash runs out.

"The creator program’s troubles suggest bigger potential issues for Clubhouse, which is reportedly valued at $4 billion."

This will be interesting to watch.

Maybe Shortcut can soon get their name back that these guys stole[1]. Then again, that name would be tainted forever.

[1] https://techstartups.com/2021/08/02/clubhouse-io-rebrands-sh...

Clubhouse has a truly degenerate culture. I used to panel on quantum computing discussions. Every quantum-related discussion now veers towards consciousness related claptrap. Now it’s all vaccine denialist, crypto/nft scammers… etc. Credit to the guy who claimed that “using quantum mechanics to affect your life trajectory is a privilege.” I think he might be sincere. Hard to tell with most of these people.

It’s honestly always had a degenerate culture, though. I remember a discussion I dropped in on about a startup for “bringing boutique liquor to space to heighten the luxury experience”