Clubhouse (app)

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Clubhouse
Basic data

developer Alpha Exploration Co.
Publishing year 2020
Current  version 0.1.25
(January 22, 2021)
operating system iOS
category social network
License Freeware
joinclubhouse.com

Clubhouse is an audio-based social networking app that in 2020 the software company Alpha Exploration Co. was released. Currently (February 2021) it is only available for iOS . The app is criticized for lack of data protection, lack of moderation and legal deficiencies.

Functions

Clubhouse is an audio platform. In digital, so-called “rooms”, people can discuss live with one another. The use is so far (January 2021) only for iPhone possible Users after an invitation ( Invite received) of already registered users. Registered users can create a profile, open new “rooms” together and announce their conversations in a calendar so that others can listen.

history

Clubhouse was founded by Stanford graduate and ex- Pinterest employee Paul Davison and ex- Google employee Rohan Seth. The app has been available since spring 2020 and is still in beta (as of January 2021). At the end of December it had 600,000 users.

At the time, the company was valued at just under $ 100 million after a $ 12 million investment by venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz .

In Germany, the app was hardly used until the beginning of January 2021, until a Telegram group of podcast moderators Philipp Klöckner and Philipp Gloeckler called for mutual invitations as a growth hacking measure and many German influencers became active on the platform. The tipping point is the postings of the influencer Ann-Katrin Schmitz , who referred her almost 140,000 followers to Clubhouse on January 16, 2021 via her Instagram account “Raspberry Cream Cake” and on LinkedIn . On January 19, 2021, the app was the most frequently downloaded iOS application in Germany.

reception

In the USA, for example, clubhouse is used by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey , Drake , Kevin Hart or Tiffany Haddish . In Germany in January 2021, users were primarily influencers and people from the fields of media, journalism, marketing and politics, for example Saskia Esken , Christian Lindner , Bodo Ramelow , Dorothee Bär , Joko Winterscheidt and Olli Schulz .

Various media justified the hype surrounding the app with the fear-of-missing-out effect - the fear of missing out on something. According to Markus Beckedahl, this is also due to the invitation policy, which creates a form of exclusivity.

In particular, some politicians initially appeared on Clubhouse in an unusually private, citizen-friendly and informal manner. On one occasion, for example, the Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow and the CDU politician Philipp Amthor spontaneously sang folk songs. However, after Ramelow had freely announced in a clubhouse room that he was playing Candy Crush in prime ministerial conference rounds and referred to Angela Merkel as "Merkelchen", a platform-internal and then media debate broke out for days: On the one hand, critics accused Ramelow of Apparently not taking the corona pandemic seriously and having sexistically degraded Merkel . On the other hand, it was discussed whether what was said in the rooms should be treated confidentially (“ under three ” / according to Chatham House rules). The background was the article in Die Welt , in which the evening was reported publicly for the first time. Ramelow later apologized for the testimony to Merkel. Observers, however, rated the scandal as the likely end of the previously intimate rounds with politicians.

criticism

According to the Hamburg data protection officer Johannes Caspar , the app violates the General Data Protection Regulation because, among other things, no contact person is named for data protection inquiries and the data is collected without a “clear purpose”. In addition, it is problematic that users automatically share third-party data with the app from their contact book. The Saarland data protection officer Monika Grethel and Dirk Engling from the Chaos Computer Club also criticized the fact that contact information of people who are not themselves participants in the service is shared with the app.

The ZDF presenter Dunja Hayali criticized the fact that the artificial shortage locks out the majority of the audience. The activist Raul Krauthausen criticized that the app excludes deaf people.

In addition, the US media criticized the fact that right-wing extremist, racist or sexist statements on the platform went unpunished.

The Consumer Federation sent the end of January 2021 warning letter to the developer company the app Alpha Exploration Co., because of "serious legal defects". In Germany, the service would be “operated without the required imprint” and the “General Terms and Conditions and the data protection information would not be available in German as prescribed.” Violations of the General Data Protection Regulation were also criticized.

In an evaluation in February 2021, Stiftung Warentest came to the conclusion that the app "collects an unnecessary amount of user data and, with its privacy policy, violates the General Data Protection Regulation."

In China , the app was blocked in February 2021 after frank and openly moderated debates over several days on taboo topics such as the persecution of the Uyghurs , the 2019/2020 Hong Kong protests , the Taiwan conflict and the Tian'anmen massacre. Place developed in 1989 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Clubhouse: Drop-in audio chat. In: apps.apple.com. App Store , accessed January 20, 2021 (American English).
  2. ↑ Alexander Demling, Larissa Holzki, Stephan Scheuer: Social network for hearing: Clubhouse: What's behind the new hype app? In: Handelsblatt.com . January 18, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  3. ^ A b Sören Brinkmann: Social audio app "Clubhouse" - The digital country club. In: Deutschlandfunk . January 21, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Henrik Oerding: Welcome to the club. In: Zeit.de . January 18, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  5. ^ A b Corinna Budras, Roland Lindner, Gustav Theile: Clubhouse App: Welcome to the clubhouse. In: FAZ.net . January 19, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  6. ^ A b Alexander Kühn, Anton Rainer: Clubhouse as a new social media hype: elites among themselves. In: Spiegel.de . January 19, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Erin Griffith, Taylor Lorenz: The Hot New Thing in Clubby Silicon Valley? To App Called Clubhouse . In: The New York Times . May 19, 2020, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed January 20, 2021]).
  8. ↑ Ari Levy, Salvador Rodriguez: Silicon Valley is going crazy for Clubhouse, a social media app with 1,500 users that's already worth $ 100 million. May 20, 2020, accessed on January 19, 2021 .
  9. ^ Arielle Pardes: What Is Clubhouse, and Why Does Silicon Valley Care? In: Wired . May 22, 2020, accessed January 20, 2021 (English).
  10. ↑ Michael Moorstedt: Hear and be heard. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 24, 2020, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  11. ↑ a b c Roland Eisenbrand: How two German digital nerds got the current clubhouse hype rolling. In: omr.com. January 20, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  12. ↑ Vicky Isabelle Bargel: Inside Clubhouse: That's behind the hype about the app. In: T3n . January 23, 2021, accessed January 26, 2021 .
  13. ↑ Lena Herrmann: Doppelganger Podcast: Clubhouse is like Corona. In: Advertise & Sell . January 20, 2021, accessed January 26, 2021 .
  14. ↑ a b c d What data protectionists complain about the new audio app Clubhouse. In: Tagesschau.de . January 19, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  15. ^ Joanna Whitehead: Everything you need to know about Clubhouse, the exclusive new social media app. In: The Independent . January 8, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  16. ↑ Carsten Behrendt: New audio app: Right in the middle of the clubhouse hype. In: Zdf.de . January 18, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  17. ^ A b Elliot Douglas: Clubhouse: Audio-networking hype app thrives on elitism. In: Deutsche Welle . January 20, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 (UK English).
  18. ↑ Tobias Krone: By invitation only! The hype surrounding the new Clubhouse app. In: Bayerischer Rundfunk . January 18, 2021, accessed February 10, 2021 .
  19. ↑ https://m.focus.de/politik/deutschland/brisante-einblicke-candy-crush-und-merkelchen-ramelow-auftritt-in-clubhouse-runde-sracht-fuer-wirbel_id_12903669.html
  20. ↑ https://de.euronews.com/2021/01/24/clubhouse-app-amthor-singt-und-ramelow-eraid-von-candy-crush
  21. ↑ Larissa Holzki, Stephan Scheuer: Audio platform: Data protection: Hype app Clubhouse violates European rules. In: Handelsblatt.com . January 19, 2021, accessed January 20, 2021 .
  22. ↑ Stefan Krempl: Social Media App: Data protection activists make big question marks at Clubhouse. In: Heise online . January 21, 2021, accessed January 21, 2021 .
  23. ^ A b Florian Prokop: What the new social media app “Clubhouse” can do. In: Rbb24 . January 19, 2021, accessed January 21, 2021 .
  24. ↑ Thomas Moßburger: Hype app “Clubhouse”: Access only for cool people - and hate preachers? In: Bayerischer Rundfunk . January 18, 2021, accessed January 21, 2021 .
  25. ↑ Consumer advocates warn clubhouse. In: Zeit.de . January 27, 2021, accessed January 28, 2021 .
  26. ↑ test.de (10 February 2021): Clubhouse in the privacy check. Hyped chat app shares user data .
  27. ↑ Friederike Böge: China blocks the Clubhouse app. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . February 8, 2021, accessed February 8, 2021 .