Clubhouse Conundrum!
room for improvement?
If code scripts machines, media scripts human beings. - Balaji Srinivasan
Clubhouse : New platform for Indic discussions
Last weekend was well spent! I was pleasantly surprised to see more 1400 participants in one of the first Clubhouse sessions on the meaning and importance of 'bhArata'. The lecture was by renowned scholar Shataavadhaani Shri R Ganesh and was hosted by #BhaarataDarshana club. Club house is now another platform to discuss Indic ideas.
A very relevant topic indeed these days, Bharat as it should be rightly called is not just any other country in the world map! We have a deep rooted civilization and Indic culture. Social media narratives are one reason we are moving away from out ancient culture. However, sessions like this do give us some hope!
I would recommend the interested to listen to #BhaarataDarshana club sessions.
Check out the SoundCloud Link
Clubhouse Product Paradigm - DAU Vs ARPU
In terms of Clubhouse product usage pattern we see a interesting paradox playing out, US seeing is seeing a decline in usage and a spike in India!
India is the DAU factory of global social media companies earning them valuation without any meaningful contribution to ARPU. - Kunal Shah, CRED
The graph may be aligned to the pandemic graph as well, as US has come out of pandemic relatively quicker and India is limping back to normalcy. Most of the millennials in US might be preferring to meet in person than voice based apps like Clubhouse.
In India after the ban on TikTok, India still continues evolve as digital colony for BigTech. Most of these big social media companies are chasing DAU ( Daily Active Users) and not ARPU ( Average Revenue Per User) in India . As we are the product and we have a army of users who are just passive consumers and not creators per se ! Media companies are making the most of the demographic dividend ( a large population confined to homes and increase screen time by India based users!) Valuations and funding driven by DAU and not ARPU in recent start-up scenarios.
Facebook leads the pack :
The Valuation game
Clubhouse valuation was already 4 billion a few months back! This can be classic case where valuation are driven by DAUs not necessarily ARPUs. In case of #BhaarataDarshana, the creators do create value in terms of some “good karma” ( for the users and themselves) ! As they are essentially doing a service to the Indic cause and not chasing any monetization plans . That said, generally this product is driven by “creator economy” participants. Clubhouse has announced plans for Creator payments. On a different tangent , concerns regarding privacy also needs to be addressed from India context perspective.
Case for a Decentralized media.
The creator economy is becoming part of the crypto economy. Because legacy social media platforms have no real concept of digital property rights. Balaji Srinivasan
Connecting the dots, We need to explore Decentralised media idea by Balaji. Internet and media influencers are not backed up by crypto creator platforms ( as Social media grew faster and Crypto ecosystem lagged behind and is still catching up!) The convergence of creator economy and crypto economy is imminent to overcome lacunae in terms of digital rights. Per Balaji, the current media like SubStack is a good start for but to scale need more decentralized ( own domains and private keys). These in ways would help one to seek more truth, health and wealth ( say all creators are linked via Blockchain wallet and it keeps a tab/ledger of all usage and payments and can be connected to Healthcare and FinTech stacks )
In the backdrop of Twitter Vs India Government spat over new IT rules compliance and its plans to reign in BigTech, decentralized media backed by crypto economy may provide a formidable alternative . Also with government planning to curb digital monopolies , decentralized media can provide more value to customers.
No matter how technology progresses, capitalism evolves, more networks gets decentralized, we need strive adhering to the core values and motto of bhArata (subscribing #BhaarataDarshana may be the starting point!)
Seeking the truth that’s core of bhArata - सत्यमेव जयते ( Truth alone triumphs - Mundaka Upanishad )