By John Ikani
Clubhouse app is now out of beta and opens to everyone, the company said on Wednesday.
The company said that it had removed its waitlist system to join the platform hassle-free as it is no longer invite-only.
“If you have a club, you can post your link far and wide. If you are a creator with an audience, you can bring them all on,” the company said in a blogpost.
“If you’re hosting a public event, anyone can attend. You can bring close friends, classmates, family members, coworkers, and anyone else you like — on iOS or Android,” it added.
The company says it has added 10 million people to the community since its launch on Android in mid-May and has seen 90 million DMs sent since it launched Backchannel last week.
Backchannel has both 1:1 and group chat and an optional second inbox for message requests.
Users can send and receive questions from the audience. And speakers can now take questions from people via text — and use that to decide who to call up from the audience. Listeners can now submit questions, even if they are not able to come up on stage.
The app arrived on Android after spending a year on the Apple iOS platform.
The new release is out today on both iOS and Android platforms and the company says it will be shipping new updates for users every 1-2 weeks.
In summer 2020, Clubhouse launched as an exclusive chat room among tech and business professionals in Silicon Valley. It has since ballooned to accommodate millions of users across the country, who often flock to the streamer to hear influencers and celebrities answer questions about their lives and work in real time.
Just nine months after its modest debut, the Clubhouse app was valued at a whopping $1 billion.
Among the many prominent figures who have boosted their brand via Clubhouse within its first 16 months of operation, are Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Mark Zuckerberg, Ashton Kutcher and Chris Rock.
Others, such as rising musician Bomani X, have emerged as Clubhouse celebrities by promoting themselves and their art to hordes of loyal listeners.
As the app continues to grow, cofounders Rohan Seth and Paul Davison are looking to expand their team, even dropping a link to the company’s job board in Wednesday’s announcement.
“We know there will be many more ups and downs as we scale, and competition from the large networks will be fierce,” Seth and Davison said in a joint statement.
“But we believe the future is created by optimists—and we’re excited to keep working to build a different kind of social network.”
