(Club)house Rules: Networking on Clubhouse

A ten-step guide on building sustainable connections on the audio-only app.

Let’s face it: Clubhouse is a little confusing. Yes there are hallways and yes there are rooms, and yes you join and leave quietly. But for most of the professional world, networking is an embodied experience and body language cues are essential in communicating effectively. That being said, how can one make the most of this audio-only opportunity?

Here’s a checklist that might help you network better:

1. Put up a clear Display Picture. Ideally, your face or your work. Putting a face to the voice personalizes this experience.
2. Make sure your first name is a part of your username so when people look for you through the search bar, it’s easier to find you.
3. Add your pronouns in your bio. Make sure your first line of the bio is the fact you want people to read first and remember you by.
4. Create an engaging bio. Go for shorter sentences + keywords instead of a paragraph. Use emojis to punctuate throughout the bio. Mention what are your areas of interest, what kind of networks do you want to be a part of. Tell as much as you’d like to share about yourself. Ideally, use this space to convey more beyond your 1-minute introductions
5. Connect your social media handles.
6. Join both broad groups and niche groups. Maintain a good mix of this. Niche doesn’t mean fewer followers, it just means to narrow down in your area of interest. For example — Broad: Freelance Writers and Creators, Indian Startup Club. Niche: Indian Creators Club, Digital Community India.
7. Create a 1-minute introduction and save it on your notes app. This helps when you are asked to speak at random. For professional rooms: Name + Pronouns + what did you study + what is your work experience + what are you currently working on + what are your interests / a problem you are trying to solve + what drives your curiosities in your area of interest + why are you in this room + what do you wish to take away from this community + who is your ideal target audience to network with. For informal or fun (highly subjective) rooms: Name + Pronouns + what do you do for a living + what are your hobbies + one quirky thing about you + why are you in this room
   These are just indicative examples, please customize this for your needs
8. Form rooms with other listeners to speak, rant, or chill. This also cements relationships with existing connections and brings more folks to the party. Be mindful of their privacy.
9. Avoid putting URLs since they are not clickable. Add them to your IG or Twitter bio and ask users to find the links in your IG Bio.
10. Learn Clubhouse Lingo. Here are some:

Reset the room: recontextualize the conversation for new listeners by sharing the topic, theme, or purpose of the room.

PTR: Pull to Refresh. Pull the screen down to refresh the page.

PTR Order: Pull to refresh resets the order of the speakers visible to users and makes it easy to go around to room to interact with all speakers in a structured order.

Mod: Moderators. The speakers with the green star next to their names.

Nuke the room: End the room on this specific topic. This call is usually taken by the moderators.

One Mic: One person talks and the rest stay on mute until they finish speaking.

Clapping: To appreciate a point, mute and unmute your mic repeatedly. This represents clapping and showing appreciation on the platform.

Clubhouse helps you contribute to a conversation and that is something you should make the most of. As a professional (at any stage of your career), networking often works in first to third-degree connection circles on other platforms. Clubhouse helps you bypass that. Love someone’s work? Join the room, raise your hand, tell them! Customize your experience between what you know and what you want to learn by building your network with attention and sustaining it — one conversation at a time!

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