Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Back in April 2020, Clubhouse was launched as an iOS app in which users could host invitation-only live audience audio events. It has become popular as a premium event, press conference, and mass-presentation service platform. It's so popular, in fact, that other major social platforms are eyeing what makes it work and adapting its features into their own programs. Discord has officially launched a feature similar to Clubhouse’s offerings, and Slack also announced that it will be developing and launching a similar feature soon.
Discord released a special update for its app including its take on Clubhouse-style features on March 31, 2021, as reported by Reuters. The new feature, called “Stage Channels” allows users to more easily manage live audience audio events which can be broadcast to up to 1,000 attendants. Reportedly, the goal is to help Discord communities build engagement. This also comes ahead of Discord’s supposed upcoming deal with Microsoft in which the former could be acquired for around $10 billion.
That wasn’t all. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield also signaled that the business organization and social platform has plans to build Clubhouse features into the app. Perhaps more flippantly, Butterfield apparently made this announcement while attending a Clubhouse event in which Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison was also apparently a participant, according business and tech outlet The Hustle.
With both Discord and Slack aiming to integrate the features that make Clubhouse unique into both their prominent services, it could signal difficult times ahead for Clubhouse. On the flipside, it also makes the first two apps all the more versatile and, as social platforms built for a variety of uses, it seems unclear what would stop Discord and Slack from expanding their technology and features to be used in such a way.
Discord’s Clubhouse-style features are available now. With Slack’s on the way in the near future, stay tuned for further updates and information, including responses from Clubhouse on this particular matter, as they become available.