Exclusive Social Media App Clubhouse Rises In Rankings Following Musk, Zuckerberg Appearances

Clubhouse, Silicon Valley’s invitation-only audio chat room, is now one of the fastest-growing social media apps in the world.

What Happened: According to Sensor Tower, an app analytics company, Clubhouse ranks in the top 30 of apps that iPhone users have downloaded this week in the U.S., and is first in nine countries including Germany, Japan, Italy, Taiwan and Brazil.

According to a data analyst, the app crossed almost 6 million registered users as of February 1, 2021. 

Clubhouse is less than a year old but is already valued at around $1 billion. The newcomer hopes to popularize audio as the next big social medium, instead of photos or text.

See also: How To Buy Facebook Stock

The application was developed by Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth.

Why It Matters: The U.S.-based app gained in popularity after Tesla Inc TSLA founder Elon Musk made his debut on the platform on February 1st and spoke with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. This includes in China where the hashtag “Clubhouse Invite Code” was trending social media platform Weibo this week. The app remains as of yet unblocked by the country's censors, unlike major foreign social media platforms such as Facebook, Inc. FB and Twitter Inc TWTR.

Musk's appearance probably also led to the spike in a similarly named but unrelated company's share price this week.

Then on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joined “The Good Time Show” talk show on the app, under the name “Zuck23." Zuckerberg was there with fellow Facebookers Andrew Boz and Fidji Simon.

Because of its popularity among Chinese users, the app’s invitation codes are now being sold at $23 to $62 on Taobao, an online marketplace owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.

Photo by Rami Al-zayat on Unsplash.