LinkedIn has confirmed it's adding live audio rooms to its professional networking app, not unlike what Clubhouse has popularized over the last year. Since the launch of Clubhouse in March 2020, the craze behind the new social app has been unstoppable. The medium itself is a nice change of pace from text and photo timelines people have grown accustomed to, but Clubhouse has also benefitted from its invite-only exclusivity and the fact that it was released right as COVID-19 hit.
Since then, countless brands have been trying to mimic Clubhouse's success. Twitter rolled out Twitter Spaces, Facebook is designing its own form of audio chat rooms, Discord now has audio rooms for virtual events, and even Spotify is trying to break into the niche. The lust of every company to have its own Clubhouse-esque feature doesn't appear to be going anywhere any time soon, and soon joining the ranks will be none other than LinkedIn.
Speaking to TechCrunch, LinkedIn has confirmed that it's developing its own form of live audio chatting in a similar vein to Clubhouse. LinkedIn's variation will allow people to create an audio room with designated speakers, people can join as audience members to listen to the conversations, and listeners can request to speak themselves. The explanation of the feature (and the UX concept shown above and below) looks a lot like other apps in this niche, but LinkedIn seems confident that its offering will be able to stand out. Per LinkedIn spokesperson Suzi Owens, "We’re doing some early tests to create a unique audio experience connected to your professional identity. And, we’re looking at how we can bring audio to other parts of LinkedIn such as events and groups, to give our members even more ways to connect to their community."
LinkedIn's Clubhouse Alternative Could Actually Work
While it might be easy to write off LinkedIn's efforts here as nothing but a shameless Clubhouse clone, it could actually prove to be a unique alternative in the live audio space. Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces work incredibly well for what they set out to do, but there's also no real identity to them. They're live chat rooms that can be used to talk about virtually any topic, and that can be both a good and a bad thing. In the case of LinkedIn, the social network is betting that its professional-focused community will make certain people feel more comfortable compared to other platforms. As noted by Owens, "Our members come to LinkedIn to have respectful and constructive conversations with real people and we’re focused on ensuring they have a safe environment to do just that."
People often follow a mishmash of accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms, but LinkedIn is a lot more focused by design. While everyone uses the site differently, chances are most users follow other people from the same company they work at, other individuals in that same work niche, or a mix of both. If someone wants to attend a live chat session about the latest best practices in their employment field, for example, that would be a much better fit on LinkedIn than Clubhouse or anywhere else. And with the work-from-home trend likely not going anywhere for a long time, giving people a more natural and human way to have real-time, professional conversations just feels like a smart next step.
It's entirely possible LinkedIn's Clubhouse competitor will fall on its face and be nothing but a forgotten experiment, but the potential for its success is there too. LinkedIn says that sessions on the platform increased by 30% in 2020 compared to 2019, and last year alone 21 million people attended a virtual event on the site. There's currently no ETA for when LinkedIn's audio rooms will be available for everyone to use, but if handled properly, they could end up being one of LinkedIn's best new features in years.
Source: TechCrunch