If you come across a Clubhouse invite offer, say yes.
Clubhouse—the new social media app that focuses solely on live, in-real-time speaker sessions—has become a buzzing cannabis industry meeting place in the cloud. Still in its Beta version, the app’s popularity exploded over the past year. Clubhouse went from 1,500 users in May of 2020 to 10 million users in February of 2021. After a Series B funding round in January this year, Clubhouse’s parent company Alpha Exploration Co. received a valuation of $1 billion.
In this photo illustration, the Clubhouse logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo … [+]
Clubhouse offers “drop-in audio rooms” that emulate speaker sessions. In the case of the cannabis industry, digital smoke sessions. The app received praise for being a meeting place among VCs and celebrities. Elon Musk even entered the chat early this year. While still in its beta-version (the reason it remains invite-only), the app has been taking off among cannabis and hemp industry professionals within the last 6 months.
Part of the reason for Clubhouse’s current success? A lack of in-person conferences, events, and networking possibilities have left the cannabis industry hungry for connection. It is a safe space, primarily because its community guidelines do not actively discriminate against cannabis terms like other social media platforms. Instagram, owned by Facebook, and TikTok have strict rules against cannabis industry conversations. Clubhouse welcomes it. “For cannabis entrepreneurs, this is a dream because we all know how it feels to be censored on social media by big tech companies such as Instagram, Google, and Facebook,” says Martine Francis Pierre, President and Founder of Cannalution.
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“I genuinely believe drop-in audio is the next wave of social media this decade,” says Francis Pierre, who has been an avid Clubhouse user since October of 2020. “I love that followers do not matter on Clubhouse. I also love the fact that I don’t have to feel pressured to be dolled up to go live. I can engage with a whole community whenever I want without beautifying my profile like Instagram.”
Networking opportunities have felt “much more meaningful and impactful than most social media platforms,” says Francis Pierre. The advocate and digital marketer sees value in its simplicity, not needing a video or visual component that relies so much on appearance like Zoom, TikTok, or Instagram Live. “The fact that I only have to use my voice to engage makes it a clear winner.”
Dion Foxworth, co-host of the “Stock Market Moves” show, uses the Clubhouse app, in Johannesburg, … [+]
Some of the most popular rooms for cannabis entrepreneurs? You will find conversation with cannabis inhales in the background in a few rooms: “The Smoking Section”, a room with 11.5k members that meets at 4:20 p.m. PST on Wednesdays (hosted by High Times). There is also “Smk Brk” for women who love weed, “Cannabis”, with 217 members and focusing on networking, storytelling, and plant medicine. A popular room is “How To Get Into The Cannabis Industry” with 2.5k members that meets at 4:20 p.m. EST and PST on Fridays. Green Street also hosts “Donuts and Pizza” on Friday mornings.
The rooms orbit discussions on cannabis licensing, marketing, policy, cultivation, equity, feminism, and everything in between. The action on Clubhouse happens in media res: You have to join the rooms during their scheduled times. People can come and go within the time frames, giving users the option to “leave quietly” when they want to digitally walk into other rooms. Each room has a moderator who can “tap in” new users to speak.
If you have something to say, this is a good place to say it. There are some issues the tech is still trying to iron out. For one, the app profile is is tied to your number, so if you need to get a new number, you have to remake your Clubhouse profile account from scratch. It is also only available to IOS users and not yet available on Android. Tahir Johnson, host of the Cannabis Diversity Report and former Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the National Cannabis Industry Association, says “I was hearing so much from friends about how dope the platform was that I bought an iPad just to get on it.”
Johnson hosts a room called “Garden State Cannabis” each week at 11:00 a.m. EST, alongside Jackie Cornell. The room discusses all things related to the New Jersey cannabis industry, from business to cultural news, regulatory updates, and conversations with leaders from different sectors of the New Jersey Cannabis industry.
“I have mostly used Clubhouse to network with other cannabis industry folks,” says Johnson. “I love the fact that you can connect and actually talk with professionals all over the globe.”
The rooms are incubators for surprise insight. Johnson recalls one chat where a government official joined in: “One of my craziest experiences so far was when US Representative Matt Gaetz hopped into a room that my friend Leo Bridgewater and I were hosting talking about cannabis one night a few weeks back and talked to us about his support and track record on cannabis legalization which surprised me.”
Francis Pierre also remarks on the unique authenticity that Clubhouse offers, and its additional impact for conversations on equity. “It’s always a pleasure to see black and brown entrepreneurs in cannabis speak their truth about the industry’s lack of inclusivity and making connections with one another to change it,” says Francis Pierre. “Many cannabis entrepreneurs see the value in Clubhouse because they can be uncensored unapologetically. This is very important when you want to educate the masses about this magical plant.”
The most unique aspect of Clubhouse is, there is no way to save episodes. Unless you record it, which you should ask consent to the room before doing so, content is lost to the airwaves once the room ends. Maybe that’s part of what makes the app so fun, that there is no way to save it? Unlike catalogs of podcasts, it is ephemeral, and will not live forever in a Cloud at your fingertips. It’s FOMO producing, at the very least.
That’s the beauty of Clubhouse— it only happens in the present moment.