What is a Social Audio App? A Study in Clubhouse Clone App

 First, there were audiobooks, then came podcasts, and now social audio apps. It looks like audio is becoming a more popular media of communication when it comes to both formal and informal communication. But what exactly is a social audio app? We’ll know that by studying a Clubhouse clone app.

But before we delve into the intricacies of a Clubhouse clone app, let’s first know a social audio app from up close.

What is a Social Audio App?

A social audio app is a type of social media platform that allows users to interact using audio and voice messages. They may or may not have additional features. These apps usually allow multiple users to create their own space - known as a room or group - for accomplishing user interaction.

Social audio apps are becoming increasingly popular among social media users. It was a trend that gained traction during the pandemic and hasn’t seen any slowdown since then.

As a consequence, more and more businesses are flocking towards developing a social audio app or a Clubhouse clone app to ride the wave and make the most out of it.

So now that you know what a social audio app is, let’s march ahead and see what makes a social audio app by taking Clubhouse as an example.

Studying a Clubhouse Clone App

Businesses looking to develop a social audio app can start with developing a Clubhouse clone app and then add, remove, and modify features based on their requirements. To begin with, you must first know the basic functionality of Clubhouse and the features that it has.

Real-Time Virtual Rooms

The primary feature of Clubhouse is its virtual “rooms,“ where users can communicate with one another via audio in real time.

Although most of the conversations in Clubhouse happen instinctively, users can schedule the same via events. Rooms are categorized on the basis of privacy level. There are 3 types of rooms in Clubhouse:

1. Open Rooms - All rooms default to this type, which can be changed later. Open rooms can be joined by anyone over the social audio app.

2. Social Rooms - These rooms can only be joined by the followers of the moderators and the speakers.

3. Closed Rooms - These rooms are the most private and can only be joined by receiving an invite from the moderators.

Each room, regardless of its type, has three sections. These are stage, followed by the speakers, and others in the room. Each section contains the profile picture and the name of its users.

When users enter a room, they are assigned the role of listeners and are muted. Only moderators can unmute listeners.

Nonetheless, listeners can choose the raised hand icon to let the moderators know that they want to join the stage. Users invited to the stage become speakers and get the ability to unmute themselves.

Creating rooms makes users moderators, which grants them the authority to call users to the stage, mute them, and remove speakers from the stage. The moderators of a room can be identified by a green star that appears next to their names.

To exit a room, the users have two options. They can either click on the leave quietly button or the peace sign emoji.

Clubs - The Groups of Clubhouse

These are the Clubhouse’s version of groups or user communities. Each club has a particular interest. Clubs have admins, leaders, members, and followers (optional).

Admins are the owners of the clubs. They can add or remove users, change user privileges, modify club settings, and create or schedule rooms. Leaders can create private rooms, invite users to the club, and create or schedule club-branded open rooms.

Only active users can create clubs. Eligible users will have a + sign on the Member of section in their profiles for doing so. Members of a club can only create private rooms and invite other users into the club. A club can be of these 3 types:

1. Open - Can be joined by anyone by clicking on the Join The Club button.

2. By Approval - Can only be joined by approval from the club admins.

3. Closed - Membership in these clubs is given by the club admin.

Other Features of Clubhouse

• Backchannel - It is the functionality that allows users to use text to communicate individually or within a club or room.

• Clubhouse App Icon - It is a grayscale profile photo of social change leaders and platform users. The app icon changes frequently.

• Clubhouse Payments - It is the direct payment service provided by Clubhouse.

• Explore - This is the dedicated page from where users can find people, clubs, and rooms. It can be accessed via the homepage.

• Recording - This feature allows users to record 30-second audio clips or entire conversations that can be shared outside the platform.

• Wave - It allows users to notify other users that they are available for a private chat.

Tech Stack Used

The Clubhouse app is written in Kotlin. For the backend, it uses Python and Django. The social audio platform uses a Gunicorn server and leverages HAProxy for load balancing.

Other Popular Social Audio Apps

Clubhouse is no longer the only one catering to social audio users. Other than Clubhouse, many social audio apps are doing the rounds these days.

Some of the leading names are Facebook, Spotify, and Twitter. Each one of them has something unique that is allowing the social audio users to make a pick as per their liking.

For instance, Facebook’s Live Audio Rooms feature auto-captioning. This is helpful for those who are hard of hearing. The same is true for Twitter Spaces. Greenroom stands out from the competition by offering a chatting feature inspired by Zoom.

Other popular apps that are giving Clubhouse a run for its money are Discord Stage Channels, Reddit Talk, Slack Huddles, and Telegram Voice Chats.

Conclusion

Social audio apps are on the rise. They are presenting newer marketing, outreach, monetization, and other opportunities to businesses. That’s why it is an ideal time to side by the trend and get a social audio app for your business.

Building a Clubhouse clone app might be the perfect starting point for your business to tread on the path of developing a social audio app.