Clubhouse launched in 2020 as a social network dedicated to live audio chat, an idea that was later followed by competitors such as Twitter and Reddit. Now Clubhouse has announced a major change to its app, which will now let users interact in voice rooms with text chat.
As announced by the social network on its official blog (via Engadget), Clubhouse wants everyone to be able to join live conversations, whether by voice or text. Named “In-Room Chat,” the new feature works similar to what apps like Zoom and Skype offer: a text chat area within a live room.
Voice room moderators will be able to delete chat messages, and creators can choose to disable text chat when starting a new room. Clubhouse says the audience will also have options to report comments and provide feedback to moderators to ensure that the text chat is a safe space. However, moderating comments in rooms with hundreds or thousands of people will certainly not be an easy task.
Don’t want to miss your moment to share a killer joke? Want to put in a song request? Want to react with the 🔥 emoji? You can now drop it in the in-room chat.
Rooms with text chat enabled will have a dedicated icon at the bottom left of the screen. After the live audio has ended, all messages sent during the chat can be read by anyone listening to the Replay of the room. The social network also expects that the new feature will help creators to conduct “quick polls or sourcing questions” on a live chat with multiple people.
Earlier this year, Clubhouse expanded its platform to the web, so that anyone can listen to a live chat. However, it is not yet possible to join as a speaker via the web.
The new In-Room Chat feature is now being rolled out to users with the latest version of the Clubhouse app available on the App Store.
