Gillmor Gang: Clubhouse Style

The Rise of User Media and its Impact on Business

The significant increase in user-generated media – encompassing social audio, newsletters, and live streaming – signals a genuine and enduring shift in how people communicate. The adoption of this citizen media by businesses, both small and large, serves as both a confirmation and a validation of its potential.

Currently, much of this activity is in an exploratory phase, with startups and established platforms working to build comprehensive ecosystems around these emerging technologies.

Evolving Platforms and Integration of Services

Clubhouse is now implementing a more deliberate onboarding procedure, moving away from requiring access to extensive contact data and phone numbers for invitations. Twitter, notably, is making substantial progress in integrating a range of pilot projects.

These include Spaces, a direct competitor to Clubhouse, the Revue newsletter platform for creation and distribution, and the future of its Periscope live video streaming service, which has been discontinued as a standalone application.

A Hybrid Future: Work, Collaboration, and Attention

As the initial excitement subsides, a blend of remote work solutions and post-pandemic digital collaboration tools is becoming apparent. Social audio is proving particularly effective at capturing and maintaining user attention in a casual manner.

While traditional commuting time is no longer a primary listening opportunity, breaks for exercise and mental wellbeing are filling that void. Content ranges from scheduled events featuring prominent figures to discussions focused on personal growth and, predictably, various financial schemes.

This landscape increasingly competes with cable news and podcasts, and is likely to integrate older media formats into this new paradigm over time.

The Shift in Streaming and Content Consumption

This trend is evident in the evolving streaming landscape, where cord-cutting is driving consumers towards broadband-based access to linear television programming. Recently, a switch was made from Comcast’s video service to CBS’s Grammy coverage via the CBS All Access app (now Paramount +).

The Comcast CBS channel experienced technical issues, while the streaming version provided a stable, high-quality viewing experience. Traditional network shows are also finding it harder to compete with the growing number of streaming originals from Netflix, Prime, and others, particularly among younger audiences who prioritize on-demand content.

Newsletter Fatigue and the Search for Loyalty

Moving beyond audio streaming to newsletter services reveals the challenges of media fragmentation – an abundance of content coupled with a lack of sustained loyalty to a limited number of sources. This loyalty, or “stickiness,” is becoming increasingly valuable due to its potential for long-term revenue.

Initially, newsletters functioned as aggregators, curating the best content from various sources and effectively replacing traditional homepages with a socially-enhanced layer of authority. However, the sheer volume of newsletters has become a problem in itself.

Creators and the Rise of Microapp Sites

To differentiate themselves and attract paid subscribers, creators are now being offered tools to develop microapp sites, competing with established magazines and publishers for top-tier authors. Newsletter writers are appearing on streaming audio platforms, mirroring the presence of journalists from publications like the Washington Post and New York Times on CNN and MSNBC.

The role of newsletters is evolving from simple curation to original content creation and a marketing channel for engagement within streaming audio communities. Twitter’s Revue tool allows for easy integration of tweets into newsletters, and a logical extension would be to use newsletters as a calendar for upcoming Spaces events.

The company is also planning “Super Followers” who can create and access exclusive content through this connection between the platform and related services.

Twitter’s Position and the Competitive Landscape

While Twitter has not fully clarified its plans for video services following the discontinuation of Periscope, integrating streaming audio and on-demand video programming provides a significant advantage over platforms like Clubhouse with more limited capabilities.

However, Twitter must demonstrate its ability to successfully launch and integrate these features to remain competitive against rivals such as Facebook, Amazon, and various streaming “Plus” services, especially as subscribers increasingly cancel subscriptions to explore new offerings from Disney, Apple, HBO Max, Paramount, and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) networks like Peacock and Hulu.

The Acceleration of Streaming and a Re-evaluation of Values

The shift to remote work is accelerating the transition to streaming media. News is becoming a notification-driven experience, consumed in short bursts as vaccinations become more widespread. Work encourages focus on our core values, while home provides an opportunity for introspection, strengthening relationships, and pursuing long-neglected interests – history, genealogy, climate change, and the potential for effective governance.

As anxiety levels decrease, we can dedicate more time to music, movies, sports, and other expressive uses of the network that helped us navigate challenging times.

The Potential of Social Audio and Beyond

Streaming audio offers opportunities for marketing, education, sharing, and monetization. It can also facilitate collaboration in areas like music, art, storytelling, virtual comedy clubs, book clubs, and debate societies. The return of liner notes to the music experience, reminiscent of shows like *A Prairie Home Companion*, is conceivable.

The Grammys were somewhat awkward due to the pandemic, but the performances were thoughtfully arranged, with artists gathering in a campfire-style setting after their songs to listen to and appreciate their fellow nominees – a Clubhouse-inspired touch.

A Transformative Moment

We are on the verge of a significant change in how we live and work, driven not only by necessity but also by a desire to realize the full potential of global communication. The foundations for this new era of collaboration have been laid; now, we must determine how to best utilize it.

from the Gillmor Gang Newsletter

__________________

The Gillmor Gang — Frank Radice, Michael Markman, Keith Teare, Denis Pombriant, Brent Leary and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, March 12, 2021.

Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor

@fradice, @mickeleh, @denispombriant, @kteare, @brentleary, @stevegillmor, @gillmorgang

Subscribe to the new Gillmor Gang Newsletter and join the backchannel here on Telegram.

The Gillmor Gang on Facebook … and here’s our sister show G3 on Facebook.