What you need to know
- Voice-based social network Clubhouse has announced that people can now listen to rooms from a web browser.
- New sharing options make it easier for people to share rooms that they find interesting.
- Rooms now have share and clip counts for those keeping tabs on metrics.
Popular voice-based social network Clubhouse has rolled out a couple of big changes to the way it works — not least the addition of a way to listen to rooms without having the app installed. All you need is a web browser and an internet connection.
What's more, Clubhouse says that users don't even need to log in when listening, something that could be a big deal for those on public machines at a school or library, for example.
Right now, Clubhouse says that the feature is being tested in the United States, but that will change in the future.
Web Listening allows anyone to listen to a Clubhouse room from their phones or laptops, without needing to download an app or log in! To start, it will work for both Replays and live Rooms with Replays enabled, and will include support for most major browsers. It will be rolling out as an experiment in the U.S. starting today. If you find it useful, we'll plan to expand support to cover more room types, more countries, and more parts of the full Clubhouse experience over time.
Another welcome change — and perhaps a bigger one in some ways — is the ability to share rooms more easily with others. Now, sharing a room will give people the chance to share interesting rooms and have them appear in the Hallways of their followers. If the room is live, they'll get a notification telling them they can join in as well.
today we're introducing an easy new way to spread the word about great rooms. It's called...drumroll....SHARING! we invented this and nobody has thought of it before.
even better, when you share, people now have the option to listen on desktop – no login required 😇 pic.twitter.com/Gw2rFkMQcstoday we're introducing an easy new way to spread the word about great rooms. It's called...drumroll....SHARING! we invented this and nobody has thought of it before.
even better, when you share, people now have the option to listen on desktop – no login required 😇 pic.twitter.com/Gw2rFkMQcs— Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) January 6, 2022January 6, 2022
Now when you tap the "Share" button at the bottom of a room (or Replay), you'll see three options: Share on Clubhouse, share via a social network, or copy the link to share via a messaging app. If you select Share on Clubhouse, you'll be able to add a comment (e.g., "This person is rapping people's bios and it's insane") and then share it to your followers. They'll see this room in their Hallway and, if the room is live, also be notified that you shared it so they can come join you.
Clubhouse is still one of the best iPhone apps for what it does, despite hefty competition from the likes of Twitter and Spotify. Changes like this are most welcome and let's hope they keep on coming.
