Clubhouse Aims To Become Audio Messaging App With 'Chats'

Months after laying off 50 per cent of its staff, social audio platform Clubhouse is trying to make a comeback as it revamps itself into an audio messaging app.

The company claims it is better than group texting.

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Months after laying off 50 per cent of its staff, social audio platform Clubhouse is trying to make a comeback as it revamps itself into an audio messaging app. The app shot to popularity during Covid-19 and lockdown but its popularity was short-lived. The company has announced it is "evolving" Clubhouse to be more like a messaging app with a big new update, available now on both iOS and Android devices. The company says it is designed to be "more social" than other messaging apps, and a "bit more Clubhouse-y".

Clubhouse's new update is centred around a new format what it calls “Chats" which is a voice-only group chat with your favourite people. It’s like a Clubhouse room, but it takes place asynchronously, so you can drop by and chime in on your own time. The company claims it is better than group texting. Live audio rooms will continue to exist on Clubhouse, but Chats may encourage users to check in more frequently to hear from their friends rather than whoever is hosting a live conversation at the time.

"With Chats you can push to talk, listen at 2x, tap to skip, swipe to the next Chat, and slide into your friends’ VMs (unless that sounds weird) to chat privately. They’re designed to be fast, fun and personal," the company wrote in a blog post.

"Since we first started Clubhouse, usage of voice notes has grown quickly all around the world. This makes sense because it’s faster — and it’s nice to hear friends’ voices! But it’s hard to use voice notes in a group, so we default to using text. Boring," the company added.

To recall, the company laid off 50 per cent of its staff in April and its founders had said: "We need to reset the company, eliminate roles and take it down to a smaller, product-focused team. We believe that a smaller team will give us focus and speed, and help us launch the next evolution of the product."

Clubhouse app shot to popularity in 2020 during COVID-19 pandemic and was once valued at $4 billion by investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global. The company last year laid off a portion of staff as part of restructuring.