Facebook is now attempting to clone the Clubhouse service, an invite only audio social media platform that has attracted names like Elon Musk and even Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. This is not surprising to most people because Facebook is known for doing things like this.
The report appeared in The New York Times yesterday that “Facebook executives have ordered employees to create a similar product [to Clubhouse], said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The product is in its earliest stages of development.”
First it was Stories from Snap. Facebook took that feature and mass launched it on all its platforms including on WhatsApp with a different name. Then when it couldn’t buy TikTok or benefit from the Trump administration’s clamp down on TikTok, it launched a TikTok like service on Instagram, Reels and is now going to update it to look even more like TikTok.
Clubhouse has been growing at fast rate lately. They had 600,000 active users back in December, 2020 and then by the end of January 2021, that number is now 2 million.
Facebook has Rooms that allows for group audio and video chat features but it still doesn’t meet up with Clubhouse features and so now instead of adding it as a feature, they would launch a similar service to rival Clubhouse and may even do it better. Facebook has both the financial and infrastructure resources to launch and market such a service to take on Clubhouse but if Clubhouse keeps attracting top celebrities, it could withstand the challenge but its going to be a tough one, ask Snapchat.
Facebook has over two billion users and has lately consolidated most of its platforms. Messenger and Instagram Direct Messaging have been synchronised for users to chat on both platforms without having to leave the other. WhatsApp which has over 2 billion users now syncs some of your Facebook information too even though its latest data sharing policy is causing them headaches – some users have left the platform with many more saying they are going delete their accounts should the new policy go through.
Clubhouse on its own doesn’t have any defining feature of its own and its services can easily be replicated by just about any big name. In Clubhouse, you ca switch between audio rooms easily with minimal technical requirements. It’s an easy to use platform with relatively easy to use functionalities. When Elon Musk went on Clubhouse, many users flocked to the platform, stretching their infrastructure and shortly after that, Mark Zuckerberg went on as well and now we see why he may have gone there in the first place.
But Facebook’s replication of rivals’ functionalities and features is beginning to get some attention as it is now a subject of numerous anticompetition and antitrust claims. Facebook is known for coming up with the News Feed feature which is now a hallmark of most social media companies.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
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