Why We Love Clubs

The meteoric rise of Clubhouse is rooted in the history of coffee-houses

Interior of a London Coffee-House by Unknown, c. 1690 (Shared via a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike license, © Trustees of the British Museum)

“Clubs happen because of the elementary truth that we like to be with our own kind, with whom we can be ourselves and let our hair down.” — Anthony Lejeune, 2012

You’ve undoubtedly heard about Clubhouse.

The real-time social audio app has gained steam since launching last year, with a quick rise amid several competitors. The technorati were the first to catch on, and it spread from there.

While I joined last August, I found I was overwhelmed with the choices. The notifications were too frequent, I felt out of place without many connections on there, and I was stumbling into conversations (or “rooms”) that neither related to me nor interested me.

But then a funny thing happened that brought me back. More on that in a moment.

With Clubhouse (or any of the rising social audio platforms), one of my concerns is the time suck. W…