Clubhouse Needs More Privacy and Safety Features
By: Sylvester Ezeani
Tags: Technology, UX, Social Media, Privacy, Safety

And Now, to Privacy and Safety

Clubhouse has written in detail about their plans to improve community moderation and address abuse on the platform. Their community guidelines also highlight features in place to keep the community safe like temporarily recording rooms (which could be a privacy issue) in case a user needs to be reported. They also offer shared block lists, essentially indicators on a user’s profile showing that they’ve been blocked by many people you engage with

Below I explain features that I think Clubhouse should implement that would greatly benefit the Clubhouse community.

1. Allow for private profiles

This was probably the most glaring missing feature. I understand that this is still an invite-only app, but it has seen a lot of growth in its user base size and with that comes the likelihood you don’t want everyone privy to your engagements (followers/followings/groups/rooms). It also acts as a speed bump in addition to the shared block list for users who attempt to engage with and unwittingly harass your following en masse.

This should be a feature that is implemented before the app becomes open.

2. Toggle Room Indicators

One of the ways Clubhouse allows you to find active rooms is by sharing the rooms a friend is currently in through notifications or through the “Available to Chat” tray. Now this is is a good feature to have, but I think a user should be given the choice to opt-in to sharing the rooms they’re in.

This doesn’t seem as big of a concern until you receive a notification the person you followed for their insight on Machine Learning is participating in a NSFW room. Not that they shouldn’t participant in any room they want, but after speaking with them later on, they didn’t even realize that was being broadcasted to everyone who followed them.

I stated earlier how I’ve primarily participated in rooms around UX, development and the tech industry. However, every room on Clubhouse isn’t geared towards culture, industry, or professional development. I’ve enjoyed listening in on rooms about sports and entertainment. I’ve also come across rooms that seemed for aimless conversations. All of which I got notifications for because a friend popped into the chats.

I think it would be great if Clubhouse identified if the room would interest you before sending the notification. Maybe some time a interests tags you can add to your profile.

As an aside, there needs to be more clarity on what these notification frequency tiers mean.

Clubhouse notification settings

3. Prioritize other ways of finding users beyond contacts

Clubhouse leans heavy on users integrating their contacts with the app. From joining the wait list, sending invites and finding people to follow. I think its great for jump starting a new user’s engagement with other people, but could probably be forgotten/lessened in favor of social media accounts. My contact list goes back over 13 years; I don’t need everyone on there reconnecting with me just because I was prompted to add my contact list during signup.

I think a more favorable solution would be to use my more curated social media accounts or even the connections of the person who invited you on the app.