SOLVV vs. Clubhouse
This is a big year for audio. Within the past 12 to 18 months, we’ve been introduced to a slew of new audio tools and apps. Some, like Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse, introduced drop-in audio, where conversations happen live at any given time and listeners come and go as they please. Others focus on 60 to 90 second sound bites that combine to create an ongoing audio conversation among users.
The uptick in audio-based platforms is forcing marketers, creators, and listeners alike to question where their time is best spent. Throw traditional podcasts into the mix, and the battle for audio attention is on.
Here, we’ll unpack the differences between Clubhouse versus SOLVV, the newest short-form audio app to hit the scene. What makes these platforms unique and which offers the most benefits for you as a creator or listener? Let’s find out.
What is Clubhouse?
For those of you who are new to the world of short-form audio, Clubhouse is a social audio app launched in April 2020. Users create “Clubs” based around interests and chat rooms either based on those same interests or even more specific topics or questions.
What does this look like practically? When you join the app, you can explore different clubs to join or simply “drop-in” to a room where the conversation is already going. You’re immediately muted when you enter a room, and you become a listener. The moderators and speakers appear at the top of your screen. At any point in the conversation, you can “raise your hand” to speak. However, moderators are not obligated to give you space to join the conversation.
With sometimes hundreds of listeners in one room and several moderators, Clubhouse chats can go on for hours. While speakers are encouraged not to dominate the conversation, it certainly happens. Listeners can quietly leave a room at any point and jump back into the conversation later.
However, with Clubhouse, if you don’t hit up the “room” before the conversation ends, that’s it. There are no recordings as the point of the app is to create live, social audio interaction.
What is SOLVV?
SOLVV is the latest audio platform to launch online and (shortly) as a mobile app. Whereas Clubhouse promotes live social audio, SOLVV is a social podcasting app that emphasizes focused, diverse conversations in a podcast format.
Every Solvv (the term used to describe individual podcast episodes) lasts only 15 minutes. Instead of hours-long discussions around a broad topic, Solvvs focus on a specific question that both listeners and speakers are interested in. They are also panel-based, meaning the speakers are a set panel of individuals curated either by the host or by the app itself.
Once a user account is created on the app, every user can participate as a listener, a host, or even a panelist. Creating a Solvv is as simple as asking a question and deciding if you want to host 2, 3, or 4 panelists. The app can curate your panelists for you, or you can invite friends to join your Solvv.
While Solvvs do take place live — allowing listeners to ask questions of the panelists and host — Solvvs are also recorded to exist on the app as micro-social podcasts. This gives creators a great avenue to share and promote evergreen content. It also allows listeners to return to the app at their own convenience and listen to the Solvvs or even Solvv Series that most interest them.
When users hear a voice they love, they can follow other Solvvers in order to network, listen to future Solvvs, and discover new topics of interest.
SOLVV vs. Clubhouse: Which is Better for Creators and Listeners?
A recent survey conducted by HubSpot asked listeners which audio activities they prefer: listening to podcasts, listening to chats on Clubhouse, or neither. Seventy-five percent of participants prefer podcasts or neither over time spent on Clubhouse.
While Clubhouse and other audio-based apps are still very new compared to podcasts, it is clear that the value for time spent listening is not hitting the mark.
Drop-in audio options like Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, and even Facebook’s forthcoming Soundbites, exacerbate an existing problem in our world today. People want to learn new things, but not at the expense of their valuable time. Not only do apps like Clubhouse require you to listen live, but these audio chat room conversations can go on for hours. As a creator, that’s not a feasible solution. As a listener, it’s more time wasted on social media.
If listeners (and creators) see value in the format of a traditional podcast, it stands to reason that social podcasting is the way forward. SOLVV provides a unique solution in that the barrier to create podcasts is lowered for creators and the time barrier for learning and growing is lowered for listeners.
Not only that, but providing live and recorded audio options means that both creators and listeners can find value in content that remains accessible for years to come.
We asked for some feedback from SOLVV users so that you don’t just have to take our word with regard to the platform’s benefits. Pulitzer Prize nominee and New York Times best-selling (ghost)writer Bill Mandel puts it this way:
“[SOLVV] sounds like a dream come true: an interactive podcast of experts on precisely the topics you want to learn about, with YOU inserted as a participant. All in 15 snackable minutes. Bright idea! Bright future!”
The beauty of social podcasts with SOLVV is that they don’t allow one voice to dominate, but instead invite diversity through panel discussions that are timed to allow everyone an opportunity to speak. Where Clubhouse rooms and clubs can invite competition, SOLVV social podcasts encourage community, diversity, and healthy interaction.
As listeners, the Solvv format creates opportunities to connect with new voices, ask questions, and also pursue knowledge in a specific area. Instead of spending hours in a “room” hoping to grab some useful information, just 15 minutes on a question-based Solvv provides numerous powerful insights. And as more features roll out with the upcoming SOLVV platform updates, listeners will even have the ability to save their favorite clips from any Solvv to refer back to or share with friends.
There are many other reasons SOLVV provides a great opportunity for all its users. For entrepreneurs, executives, and influencers, SOLVV creates an easy pathway to not only create great audio content but also network with a diverse audience of growth-seekers.
According to Venture Adviser, Ruben Austin, “I love activating my network with SOLVV. People love the concise format compared to other panels.”
Live and Love Coach, Hannah Taylor, agrees. “I show up and become a valuable creator for just being myself in 15 minutes.”
Stop Selling, Start Solvving
While Clubhouse certainly provides a unique avenue for creators to promote their ideas in a live drop-in audio format, it leaves both creators and listeners wanting. Why? Creators still have to sell themselves like they do on social media — and listeners are kept from building real connections as competition pushes the loudest, most popular voice to the top of the room.
SOLVV provides a far clearer and easier path toward your audio-based goals. Growth, content creation, and networking opportunities are all simplified through a format that makes room for every voice, allowing listeners and creators to connect and grow together.
Powerful, diverse insight, valuable connections, evergreen content that can be used again and again, and an easier and faster way to share your voice with the world. What’s stopping you? Start Solvving today.
