Everyone wants to be on Clubhouse, but you need an iPhone and an invitation: someone is willing to pay for it, many are willing to sell it and no one wonders if it's safe.
Clubhouse is the social of the moment: everyone would like to be able to grab a place in the sun inside, just like it happens with the best trendy clubs. Entrepreneurs, startup founders, celebrities: those who count are already inside and for the others there's nothing left to do but wait for an invitation. Or buy it, one of the many for sale. But what do you risk?
To understand what is really happening around Clubhouse you have to take a step back. The social network founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth was born only last year and, to date, has two million users and an estimated value of over 100 million dollars. Based on voice communication (no photos, videos or eye-catching GIFs), it is structured in rooms (the so-called rooms) where one or more speakers interact with their listeners in a speech/debate on a wide range of topics. One of the latest, able to gather over 5 thousand participants, was Elon Musk. The world's most influential tycoon held court for over an hour, discussing his projects and even finding the time to ask some uncomfortable questions to Robinhood founder Vladimir Tenev about the Gamestop affair. Yes, that's the place to be right now. But how to get access? This is where the question gets hot.
Clubhouse, how does access work?
Everyone who has tried to download the Clubhouse app to sign up for the social network (iOS only, no luck yet for Android), apart from a few luckier cases, has hit a brick wall. In fact, either you have an invitation shared by someone already present on the platform, or you can choose to follow the path proposed by the social network: the subscription to a waiting list that, meager consolation, allows you to register your username while waiting to be able to enter.
Clubhouse, who sells the invitations?
The alternative, or rather the shortcut, is to buy the invitation. Obviously this is not a procedure endorsed by the social network, but a stunt by some users who make available the handful of invitations given by Clubhouse at the time of access. And here it is that on the most famous meeting places of the network, offers for one or more invitations are flourishing, at the most disparate prices.
Already by the end of November 2020, on Twitter it was possible to find accounts ready to make available - at the "modest" amount of 250 dollars - their invitations to the most impatient users. The same happened on Reddit, another prince of the web. So many proposals and so many, if not more, requests to be part of the restricted circle of the chosen ones on Clubhouse.
As the months went by, the sale modalities became more devious. In fact, now, searches for invitations posted on social networks and forums are often followed by private messages. It's away from prying eyes that prices and the buyer's phone number are shared, which is essential to be able to start the sign-up process.
There are also those who settle for one or more coffees (let's say a supply of about twenty to thirty dollars), as seen on the BuyMeACoffee site, where some have created veritable lifelines for access to the coveted social. The most magnanimous, instead, prefer a follow and a retweet on the twitter platform: a small step for the user, a big step for the humanity of Clubhouse.
Clubhouse, what do you risk to buy an invitation?
When choosing these "short" modalities, it is always right to evaluate the risks you may run into. One of all is represented by the sharing of your phone number: with it you give to a stranger an important piece of your daily life, opening the doors to a series of problems strictly related to privacy.
Other, but it comes without saying, is the danger related to the purchase of a good without having the certainty of receiving it. Obviously, however, this is in contrast to the desire to access the social beforehand. Is it better to tempt fate or rely on the slow waiting list? Certainly, the latter is free and risk-free. The only one, if anything, is that of having to wait: definitely safer and cheaper.