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SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook is developing an audio chat product similar to the popular young Clubhouse app, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the social network aims to expand into new forms of communication.
Clubhouse, a social networking app, has gone viral for allowing people to congregate in audio chat rooms to discuss a variety of topics. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has been interested in forms of audio communication, people familiar with the matter said, and appeared in the Clubhouse app on Sunday to discuss augmented and virtual reality.
Facebook executives ordered employees to create a similar product, said the people, who were not allowed to speak publicly. The product is in its early stages of development, they said.
A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment, as did a Clubhouse rep.
Facebook has a history of breaking into new technologies and researching different media that have attracted users, especially if those audiences are young. Mr. Zuckerberg bought photo-sharing site Instagram, messaging app WhatsApp, and virtual reality company Oculus when all were small start-ups.
Facebook is also known in Silicon Valley for its willingness to clone its competitors. In 2016, Instagram copied one of Snapchat’s flagship features, “Stories,” which allows users to share ephemeral videos and photos. Last year Instagram launched “Reels,” a TikTok-like video product. When the Zoom teleconferencing service became popular last year, Facebook quickly created Rooms, a group video chat service. And this year, Facebook has been working on a competitor product of Substack, the popular newsletter service.
Facebook has embarked on the development of experimental applications through its new product experimentation team. The team has worked on podcast apps, travel apps, and music apps, among others.
Clubhouse, which was founded last year by entrepreneurs Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, has gained ground among the Silicon Valley elite as a private, invitation-only iPhone app. The application is in “beta” version, which means that it is still in the testing phase before wide distribution.
After registering with the Clubhouse, users can create rooms dedicated to different topics. Instead of communicating via video or text, Clubhouse’s preferred medium is voice chat. The size of the rooms varies from intimate to thousands of people listening or participating. Sometimes it works as a hybrid between a CB radio and a 1980s party line.
The clubhouse flourished during the pandemic as people searched for ways to connect while remaining isolated from each other. The app sits at the top of the Apple App Store rankings in countries like Germany, Italy, Japan, and Turkey. At a recent internal meeting, Mr Davison and Mr Seth said Clubhouse has 2 million weekly users.
Dozens of celebrities – from Drake and Tiffany Haddish to Jared Leto and an Instagram co-founder – have appeared on the app, participating in various discussions and using the service to promote their projects.
Investors have noticed. Clubhouse raised $ 100 million in January for a valuation of $ 1 billion, according to PitchBook. It was valued last year at $ 100 million. Its investors include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and more than 180 others, the company said.
International interest in Clubhouse has proliferated. On Monday, the app was blocked in China after people from the region joined with those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere to share their thoughts on topics ranging from the political to the mundane.
Tech titans have started appearing on Clubhouse occasionally. Last month, Richest person in the world Elon Musk agrees to be interviewed on Clubhouse by two users who host an evening talk show on the app called “Good Time”. This sparked renewed interest and Clubhouse struggled to keep its service afloat.
Sunday, the hosts of “Good Time” interviewed a Facebook executive when a surprise guest showed up: Mr. Zuckerberg. He spoke briefly about the future of augmented and virtual reality and Facebook’s plans, before leaving to return to his family.
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