The newest social media for the coolest kids on the block, clubhouse! It’s amazing how fast the social network has grown in just a short time. From my 2 weeks in Clubhouse, these are the general kinds of room you see in the app.

The “serious” room

These are the rooms with more serious topics, it could range from career talks, mental health support, LGBTQ+ situation in different countries, or even politics discussion. For example, yesterday I enjoyed listening to a conversation on LGBTG+ rights in Japan.

In general, I think these rooms can be further divided to 2 different types. First is the room with several panel members and audience just listens in. For these room, I noticed that it feels like watching a stage at a conference. Personally, I think that for these, a podcast would be more appropriate as I would want to re-listen to the topic in the future. The second is the more “networking” room. I feel that these are more valuable in Clubhouse and it allows you to connect to new people.

The “chill” room

These are the rooms with more relaxing topics. The best I’ve seen so far is a room that is dedicated to sharing “Dad jokes”. These chill rooms typically does not have a specific topic, it’s just hanging out, meeting new people, and talking about random stuff.

These are the best rooms to be in. I feel that I get to connect on a more personal level with the people I meet, and I could take a breather and be less serious. A great one I’ve joined was “Post Work Chill” room hosted by Southeast Asia Tech Club.

The “social engagement” room

These are the… weirder rooms compared to others. You come into the room, total silence, nothing is happening, you see people sometimes dropping in and out of the stage, and you wonder, “what in the world is going on here?!” In one of the “chill” rooms I joined yesterday, we discussed this phenomenon, and the hypothesis ranged from “it’s a cult”, “they’re chanting something that I cannot hear”, and much more, but I think we landed on a reasonable hypothesis.

The hypothesis is that these rooms are for people to grow their following. This means that there’s literally no conversation in the room. It’s just a room, where you come in, raise your hand, gets put into the stage, follow other people in Clubhouse or Instagram, and hope people will follow you in Clubhouse or Instagram. For example, you’ll see rooms like “INSTAGRAM JOIN GROW PING MUTE” with lots of emojis in the title.