The rapid rise and epic fall of Clubhouse

In 2020 and 2021, it seemed like the world of social media was on the verge of complete change. A new app called TikTok has emerged, bringing a whole new type of vertical video to phones everywhere. Another app — not as popular, but growing quickly, and already enjoying significant influence among the tech set — looked like it might have a whole new social idea on its hands. It was called Clubhouse, and it was a big bet that audio might be the future. It was the next big thing, until it wasn’t.

on This episode of Release date, We tell the story of the early days of Clubhouse, and how a simple audio group chat app turned into a thriving platform for entertainers and creators. Platform Casey Newton and Bloomberg Ashley Carman Join David Pierce to talk about how the app works, why tech geeks were so drawn to it, and ultimately how timing was the best and worst thing that ever happened to Clubhouse. What would the app be like if not for the global pandemic, and months of lockdown that left people scrambling for any kind of connection? We will never know. But it would have been different.

This is the second episode of the third season of the series Release date. Here’s how to get every episode and all the other fun stuff as soon as it drops:

And if you want to learn more about the full story of Clubhouse – and yes, remind yourself a little about life during lockdown – here are some links to get you started: