Invite-only app Clubhouse launches direct messages feature 'Backchannel'

Social audio app Clubhouse launched a direct messaging feature called 'Backchannel' to allow one-to-one and group text chats.

The feature is designed to help moderators chat among themselves during an active room; let people connect after an event; and broadly, foster text conversations that otherwise would have to take place in a separate app.

Its competitors, notably Twitter Spaces and Facebook Live Audio Rooms, both allow people to text chat while also running or participating in an audio conversation, so Backchannel brings Clubhouse more up to par and ensures users keep their conversations, and more of their social life, on the app.

The invite-only app, which saw explosive early growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now competing against a raft of tech companies from Facebook and Twitter to Spotify pushing out similar audio chat services.

Clubhouse said it had added more than 8 million new users since launching on Android in late May. It said the ability to direct message was one of its most requested features.

Launched last year, the San Francisco-based platform is looking to establish itself as the standard-bearer for digital audio and has already inspired copycat products from Facebook and Twitter.

Taking advantage of the pandemic and celebrity appearances such as Tesla boss Elon Musk, Clubhouse has popularized long conversations, whether they be chats between friends or celebrity interviews.

(With inputs from agencies)