Blog about constructive and engaging journalism

By: Gerd Maria May, Room of Solutions

The successful media of the future are media that are close enough to their users to understand what they want and how the media can help make their lives better.

This means, among other things, media that seriously involve their users in the journalism they do - from the idea arises until the debate has ebbed out or been carried on.

How to hit its users, what forms the contact should take and which platforms to use, there are almost as many answers as there are media. Generally for everyone is that it should be easy to connect. Whether it is digital or physical is secondary.

A new way to be able to meet with its users may have emerged with the new social audio media Clubhouse.

The platform has pros and cons. Right now, the biggest minus is that far too few have a profile at Clubhouse. To get in, you need an invitation, but once you're in, it's easy to invite others in (so send me an email if you're not in yet, but are curious - I still have a bunch of unused invitations lying around. )

More than eight million people worldwide have downloaded the hyped app Clubhouse - and according to several sources, there are now around two million active users on a weekly basis on the platform.

Although it sounds like a lot to many, it's not enough to reach a wide audience. But if you want to hit a niche, there are good opportunities.

In the long run, the platform can form the framework for a completely new way for media to communicate with its users.

On the welcome page of Clubhouse, you can see what's going on with people you follow on the platform, and you can click into rooms where conversations are already happening. And if you want to take the lead, you can click on the green button and start your own room.

Clubhouse is, in my view, a really good bid for a framework for an engaging debate.

It's easy to get involved - it's easy to participate both passively and actively and it's liberating that it does not leave a trace of sometimes depressingly hard debate tracks.

The conversation at the Clubhouse takes place live and everyone is welcome. I have been in rooms with just two participants and I have been in rooms with several thousand.

The possibilities are many, and for media, it looks like a platform that could serve as a unifying force for a niche audience.

A big advantage of a debate at Clubhouse rather than on Facebook, for example, is that everyone talks to each other now and here - there is no one sitting and raging on their keyboard to a diffuse opponent. Everyone is present here and now - and everyone hears what you say when you say it.

It makes it a nice experience to participate in debates and to listen to them.

The biggest downside to Clubhouse at the moment is that too few are on and it's hard to get on.

In addition, the advantage of everything being live and disappearing is also a disadvantage. It is expensive only to do something for those who can participate at the moment. The "long tail" disappears. It is therefore a strategic choice for the individual media whether it is worth the time.

Even though you are in a room with people you have never met before, you experience time and time again that there is a feeling that people want to help each other succeed in the best possible way.

And time and time again, an atmosphere of intimacy and closeness arises - even if no one can see each other and everyone can just dump in.

I have seen people talk about their loneliness, about their business that was about to succumb to the corona or about a job search. Everyone was received constructively by the other listeners and my experience was clear that they were sent on out into the world better equipped than they were when they showed up at Clubhouse.

Perhaps it is the combination of the fact that everything is alive and disappears immediately and that it is only sound that leads to the experience of closeness. At any rate, I have rarely felt as close to my idols on social media as I do at Clubhouse. That feeling creates trust and relationships. Two of the most basic things that are needed for the media to act successfully.

Inside a room, you can click around in the profiles of the other participants and easily click "follow" if you think it looks like someone you would like to talk to more. You can raise your hand or you can leave the room without disturbing anyone.

In short, Clubhouse is an app for Iphone. It is a social media that is based solely on sound. And everything works live. There is nothing being saved or recorded. So be there and be square. - And it can actually feel quite anxiety-provoking for someone like me. You get constant notifications about great conversations you could join. Clubhouse describes itself as follows: Clubhouse is a new type of social product based on voice. It allows people everywhere to talk, tell stories, develop ideas, deepen friendships, and meet interesting new people around the world.

Clubhouse has been started as an "invitation only" platform. That means you need to know someone to get into the heat around the fireplace. But it's actually not that difficult - because once you are inside, you are given a number of invitations that you can share. And so far it seems that the more you hand out, the more you get.

So be generous when you are in - and write to me if you are not, then I will help you get in as long as there are invitations available.

I got my invitation from Julie Lindegaard, who took me in for a chat about how to get started with Clubhouse. When I was on my very first trip around the clubhouse, I bumped into Anne Skare, who immediately offered me an intro to the platform. She lifted me out into a private room and gave me here generously and helpfully the basic intro to how it all works. And that’s how I’ve pretty much experienced Clubhouse ever since. - Filled with people who want the good conversations, and want to help each other further.

You can create your own profile where you present yourself so that people can follow you if they think you have something to talk about. Here you can also always see who has invited you into the club.

It's super easy to get in touch with people. It's like there's a mood in there that it's about helping each other. Completely low-practice, you can click on a calendar where you can see what is planned by your contacts. But you can also create an event yourself at any time, where you can invite people.

The first week you are at Clubhouse, you get a "party hat" put on your profile. This means that everyone can see that you are new, and thus carry over with you when you fumble with the buttons. When you are in a "room" you can choose to just listen, but you can also "raise your hand" by clicking on the icon of a hand, and if the moderator wants, he or she can invite you into the stage where you so can unmute yourself and talk to everyone in the room.

It is also the moderator who can send you out among the audience again or mute you when you are done. A nice feature is that while you are in a "room" you can click around on the other participants' icons, and if you think someone looks exciting, you can follow them and thus get a message when they participate in something.

If you meet a friend, you can also go out to your own "room", where you can talk undisturbed. So it is very easy to go from room to room and both participate or just listen to the conversations that are going on.

Facts about Clubhouse: See the clubhouse's own description of how to behave on the platform here: https://www.notion.so/Community-Guidelines-461a6860abda41649e17c34dc1dd4b5f