Bulletins

Clubhouse is blowing up in China

Clubhouse logo overlayed with the Chinese character for "fire."
David Wertime

Chinese users are suddenly flooding in to the group audio chat app Clubhouse. Here's what you need to know.

  • Who's on Clubhouse? China's elites. More specifically: Tech workers, social media opinion leaders, dissidents, activists and journalists both in China and outside of China.
  • Clubhouse is on the Weibo trending chart. One day after Elon Musk appeared on Clubhouse, the hashtag "Clubhouse Invite Code" appeared as a trending topic on the Chinese social media platform.
  • What are users talking about? One big topic: Politics. As censorship becomes increasingly pervasive on Chinese social media, Mandarin speakers are using Clubhouse as a new public square for political discourse. Late Tuesday night, Asia time, users in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan stayed up late to debate Chinese identity and democracy. Things got heated when it came to Hong Kong protests, China's handling of the pandemic and censorship.
  • Invite codes are for sale. Clubhouse has become so popular in China that those with invitations are now selling it on Xianyu, China's second-hand marketplace app. Although sellers appear to outnumber buyers, and you need an Apple account outside of China to get in.
  • Tech insiders are already talking about copying it. PMs are wondering aloud who will copy it first. Wu Yunfei, a member of the product team behind Dizhua (递爪), an app similar to Clubhouse, wrote that he entered a Clubhouse room with hundreds of Chinese product managers and had "mixed feelings" hearing people talking about how to copy it to China. Justin Sun, a Chinese entrepreneur who founded crypto platform TRON, quickly announced on Twitter that he was building a similar app named "Two" to replicate Clubhouse's success in China.
  • Realtime audio chat rooms are nothing new in China. There are already similar audio-based social networking apps in China, but none of them has gone mainstream. Clubhouse reminds many Chinese internet users of YY, an online chatroom-turned major live-streaming platform. While YY used to be a popular communications tool among gamers (think Discord) or between influencers and their fans, it was never considered an elite platform. Chinese cab and truck drivers also have their own live group chats on WeChat. But urban elites only got into live chats after Elon did.
Shen Lu

Shen Lu is a former Protocol reporter, covering China's tech industry.

and
 Zeyi Yang

Zeyi Yang is a former reporter with Protocol | China. Previously, he worked as a reporting fellow for the digital magazine Rest of World, covering the intersection of technology and culture in China and neighboring countries. He has also contributed to the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia, Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications. In his spare time, Zeyi co-founded a Mandarin podcast that tells LGBTQ stories in China. He has been playing Pokemon for 14 years and has a weird favorite pick.

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The tweet came from Jessica Rose, a developer relations advocate, founder of a meetup series for programmers and aspiring programmers and co-founder of Trans*Code, a hacker org devoted to drawing attention to transgender issues and opportunities.

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'Don’t touch me'

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If employees are going to be suspicious of whatever perks you offer, why offer any perks at all?

“So I'm aware of how wonderfully spoiled it is to complain about perks being given out in some kinds of tech workplaces,” said Rose. “I'm the most unimpressed by ‘perks’ which either directly undermine employment rights (like unlimited paid time off can do in some regions) or are intended to throw work/life balance out of kilter in the workplace's favor.”

Unlimited or flexible vacation time can work, but it helps when the culture is one where people are encouraged to take time off and experts agree that mandatory minimums go a long way in helping create that kind of culture.

Your best interests or mine? Why can’t it be both? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A director of engineering at Google who formerly worked at Microsoft and Zillow called employer-sponsored coaching an anti-perk. “I’ll spring for a coach who is looking out for my best interests, not the company’s, thanks,” she said, adding, “I know I am lucky to be offered this, but it always feels like a trap.”

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Free SunChips < values-based work culture

Research shows that today’s employees don’t want snacks as much as they want work that aligns with their values, and that extends to benefits.

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“When they advertise a ping-pong table in the job listing, it's a huge 🚩 for me. And I love ping-pong. If a silly perk like this [is] such a relevant part of your benefits package, that says a lot about what the company values, and likely its culture."

A version of this story appeared in Protocol's Workplace newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox three times a week.

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A version of this story appeared in Protocol's Workplace newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox three times a week.

How to do a background check on a potential employer

If you truly want to gauge a company’s culture before accepting a job offer, you have to become a bit of a sleuth. A journalist, even. Troll Blind and Glassdoor. Browse LinkedIn for current employees who seem trustworthy, or former employees who seem not to have an agenda.

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A version of this story appeared in Protocol's Workplace newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox three times a week.

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