If someone told you about an audio room-type social media platform way back in 2010, would you have believed it? However, there is no denying the fact that among so many video-based social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, Clubhouse is a fresh breath of air.
Source: thinkimpact.com/clubhouse-statistics
As of April 2022, Clubhouse user statistics show that the Clubhouse app achieved 13 million downloads and grew very rapidly, almost like a wildfire. It has seen an increase of 600,000 users since December of 2020. With more than 10 million weekly users spending 11-22 hours on the app, Clubhouse has become massive.
But the question remains, what is Clubhouse?
Imagine an application on your phone that allows you to listen to people’s live conversations without breaking into their privacy. These people can be celebrities or experts in their fields. You can join their chat and even express your views through the audio chat rooms.
But then, how does Clubhouse generate revenue?
Clubhouse is a free audio chat room application; there are no conventional ways to generate revenue. However, recently, social media apps have introduced a payment feature where users can pay their favorite creators and speakers.
You can use the core concept of Clubhouse to your advantage by adding a source of revenue in the form of membership fees, advertisements, B2B partnerships, and more. The audio marketing paradigm has come a long way from radio-based promotions and even podcasts which you can leverage for revenue generation.
So the next thing that will come to mind is, HOW do I get started?
The answer is found in this comprehensive guide to building an app like Clubhouse!
Surveying Pain Points
The first step toward ideating an application like Clubhouse is to survey audiences and analyze their pain points. In simple terms, it is a way to understand what the issues are that audiences deal with on other social media platforms. It also relates to competitor analysis, where you need to understand their features and the issues that people face with them.
Knowing your customers will help you gather information regarding their age, income, and other demographics. These details are essential to understanding what type of interactions they will have on your application, and following that, you can plan the features for your audio chat app. This is one of the most critical stages of app development — identifying features based on the customer’s pain points.
Audio Chat Room Features
Auto chat rooms are new to the application development scene. However, Clubhouse has paved the way for more such social media platforms to come. Here are some of the features that you can consider having an expert development team create for you in an app like Clubhouse.
Hosting Features
Clubhouse app allows you to host your audio chat rooms. So, if you are looking to replicate the same, you will need to create hosting features for your application. This feature will allow users to host their audio chat rooms. Users should be able to control the number of participants who can join the audio chat room and as well as who can speak or listen to the conversations. You can use something like a QR code generator to make the invitation/participation pass that much easier for approved audience members to use.
Room Privacy
When it comes to the privacy of chat rooms, you need to integrate enhanced encryption systems within your application architecture. This allows your users to communicate securely without revealing their data.
For example, WhatsApp is known for end-to-end encryption that shields the entire conversation journey rather than just the endpoints. That means you can’t access a conversation once it is over.
For audio chat rooms, it is essential to use algorithms to create end-to-end encryption because no user should be able to record conversations.
Audio-only
The audio-only feature relates to a function where a user can only access audio from a particular chat program and can't speak without the host’s permission. Users should be able to access multiple rooms and, if the hosts permit, listen to conversations. Clubhouse employs an invite-only membership which already makes the app exclusive, and audio-only adds another layer of privacy.
Live Audio Streaming
The feature will help different users communicate with each other. Apart from the live streaming audio chats, the feature also allows users to have real-time crosstalk. You can add features like real-time chat to enhance the experience. In addition, instant messenger-type chat features already employed by WhatsApp can be integrated into your audio chat room apps.
Paid Features
You can add features like subscriptions or access to specific audio rooms with paid memberships. Here, you can create a separate pool of chat rooms for premium members and ask users to pay for their membership. You can also add video monetization techniques for creating paid features. But remember, once you start charging users for things like subscriptions, it’s important to add a functional customer support feature to handle questions, problems, or refunds, so that’s an additional layer to consider.
Another (perhaps simpler) way to introduce paid features is by creating a platform for creators to offer exclusive content for users in specific chat rooms with a charge for access.
Once you have an exclusive paid audience, you may want to offer them perks, such as free samples, swag, or access to other limited events. Depending on your topic or industry, you could offer things that grow in value over time, such as something likely to become a collectible (for this concept, think “baseball cards” but for a digital audience). A perfect example of this is in the cryptocurrency field, where “crypto airdrops” are distributions of cryptocurrency tokens for free to exclusive audiences as a way to engage them and boost interest in the topic (and the currency).
Architecture & APIs
When it comes to the creation of applications like Clubhouse, you will need scalable app architecture. Microservices architecture is an excellent option for applications like Clubhouse. Unlike monolithic architecture, where the entire suite of services is tightly interwoven and a single failure can bring the whole application down, microservices behave independently to reduce that risk..
How to Implement Microservices Architecture in Mobile App Development? (mindinventory.com)
Microservices architecture offers a decoupled suite of services that interact with each other independently. So, even if one service fails, it does not affect other services, and there are no disruptions.
Another essential factor that you need to consider while building an application like Clubhouse is API gateways. These services need a communications mechanism and an orchestration tool to interact with each other. An API gateway can help with features like reverse proxy, SSL termination, load balancing, caching, and request aggregation. APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are also essential for third-party integrations.
Integrations & Deployments
Third-party services are essential for different functions like multilingual support, payment gateways, real-time notifications, or even cloud-based service integrations. Apart from these integrations, you can leverage an agile methodology for incremental iterations. That will allow you to test, code, and deploy with every iteration.
Conclusion
Clubhouse is here to stay, and the growth of the application indicates that audio-based chat rooms will have more users. So, if you are thinking of replicating the same success for your business, you will need more than just good features.
A well-planned app architecture and development approach can help you deliver an excellent user experience which means more traffic. The higher the number of users, the more revenue you can generate from an app like Clubhouse. However, you will need a well-considered revenue model. If you don’t want to invest that much time in development, you can always leverage the already-successful phenomenon, Clubhouse.