According to foreign media reports, the acquisition negotiations between Twitter and Clubhouse have stopped. Earlier, it was reported that the American social networking platform Twitter was considering acquiring the voice social app Clubhouse at a price of $4 billion, and the two sides had held talks on the acquisition.
Recently, Bloomberg reported that the acquisition negotiation between Twitter and Clubhouse will not continue. Twitter did not comment on the reason for the breakdown of the negotiation, while Clubhouse did not reply. However, some analysts speculated that the stranding of the acquisition had something to do with Twitter's existing "Spaces" product. "Since Twitter already has Spaces, why should it buy Clubhouse?" Analysts said so.
Clubhouse, the joy and worry of the pioneers
Clubhouse is a product of Silicon Valley venture capital circle as the first batch of seed users, born with the label of "elite". The user participation mechanism of the invitation system, the participation of Silicon Valley venture capital and celebrities from all walks of life, and Elon Musk's "friendship with goods" have all made this product very popular.
According to App Annie, the global download volume of Clubhouse has increased from 3.5 million to 8.1 million in only half a month from February 1 to February 16, 2021. The US $100 million financing in early 2021 also made its valuation soar to US $1 billion, making it one of the unicorns.
In short, the success of Clubhouse is influenced by environmental and human factors, and also depends on the "scarcity" of its products. In the general environment of "national isolation" caused by the epidemic, interpersonal communication has become a "just need", and the Clubhouse chat room with the blessing of many celebrities can not only meet people's desire for communication, but also expand their communication circle. The "ring barrier" brought by the invitation system has also greatly increased people's attention to this product and desire to join. After all, the opportunity to talk with Musk is very attractive.
However, after the uproar, Clubhouse has many troubles on its way to growth. For example, the problem of "low content value" has been criticized. Many users believe that most topics in the Clubhouse platform are not very valuable, and the valuable information that users can obtain from them is very limited, which also directly affects the stickiness of users. In addition, for Clubhouse, in addition to the content threshold needs to be improved, how to deal with the pressure of competitors, how to realize commercial realization and other issues also need to be solved.
Twitter's way of voice communication
After seeing the opportunity of voice social networking track, the quick sighted and quick witted Twitter quickly launched its own voice chat function "Spaces". According to TechCrunch, Twitter announced the launch of Spaces as early as last November, and launched the beta test in December. At that time, the beta version was only available to some iOS users. In March this year, Twitter took a step ahead of Clubhouse and logged into Android.
As a competitor of Clubhouse, it can be said that Spaces has been optimizing itself based on the former "slot point". It is reported that the Spaces under Twitter seems to be more user-friendly and open than the Clubhouse with high entry threshold and "strict hierarchy". The initiator can invite others to join and participate in the discussion through private messages, sharing Twitter links and other ways.
In addition, Twitter has also made optimization in terms of "speech control". Because of problems such as users harassing New York Times reporters and making inappropriate comments in Clubhouse, Twitter has strengthened the moderator's control over the spokesman. According to the feedback of the beta version, Twitter said that in the future, the hosts of Spaces will have more ways and rights to control the content of the conversation.
In addition, Twitter said that the Spaces platform will also provide more diverse functions. For example, the background music function designed for the host to welcome the audience. It is reported that Twitter will also integrate Spaces with its "Super Follow", a subscription service developed by Twitter that allows users to obtain exclusive content from the creators at a price of 4.99 dollars per month.
Today, the voice social track is still hot. Although most of the competing products are "monthly selling", in the face of the strong entry of strong rivals such as LinkedIn and Facebook, whether Twitter or Clubhouse, it will be a "battle of gods" waiting for them.
Wen | Deng Yunxi
Editor | Zhao Xiaochun
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