Italian Sociological
Review
Understanding Polarization Effects on VoiceBased
Social Media: A Clubhouse Analysis
Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
How to cite
Caroleo, L., Maiello, G. (2022). Understanding Polarization Effects on Voice-Based Social
Media: A Clubhouse Analysis. [Italian Sociological Review, 12 (7S), 749-770]
Retrieved from [http://dx.doi.org/10.13136/isr.vl2i7S.580
[DOI: 10.13136/isr.vl2i7S.580]
1. Author information
Laura Caroleo
Department of Law, Economics and Sociology, Magna Grsecia
University, Catanzaro, Italy
Giuseppe Maiello
Department of Marketing Communication, University of Finance and
Administration, Prague, Czech Republic
2. Author e-mail address
Laura Caroleo
E-mail: laura.caroleo@unicz.it
Giuseppe Maiello
E-mail: Giuseppe.Maiello@seznam.cz
3. Article accepted for publication
Date: May 2022
Additional information about
Italian Sociological Review
can be found at:
About ISR-Editorial Board-Manuscript submission
Understanding Polarisation Effects on Voice-Based Social
Media: A Clubhouse .Analysis
Laura Caroleo*, Giuseppe Maiello**
Corresponding author:
Laura Caroleo
E-mail: laura.caroleo@unicz.it
Corresponding audior:
Giuseppe Maiello
E-mail: giuseppe.maiello@mail.vsfs.cz
Abstract
Modern societies have been strongly influenced by the development of digital
media, which has facilitated not only the transmission of information and symbolic
content, but also the creation of new forms of action, interaction, and social relations.
The pervasiveness of digitization increased between 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, which led to the lockdown of the entire world population and moved
sociality predominandy online. The year 2020 also saw the emergence of a new social
media platform called Clubhouse, which was based entirely on oral communication.
The "global village" is recovering what Walter Ong calls secondary orality, which is
typical of electronic media in literate societies, characterized by the recovery of speech
in electronic form. Today, the development of technologies has introduced what
Derrick de Kerckhove calls tertiär}' orality. The objective of this article is to follow the
1
This output was created as part of the student project "Mother andfather? Nonbiliary and
transgenderfamilies in the C^ech Republic: a legislative norm and the ideas of KB/ TGpeople" using
objective oriented support for specific university research from the University of
Finance and Administration.
* Department of Law, Economics and Sociology, Magna Griecia University, Catanzaro,
Italy.
" Department of Marketing Communication, University of Finance and
Administration, Prague, Czech Republic.
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
re-emergence of oral cultures as a new mode of online communication, focusing on the
Italian community and the divergence between different groups of users strictly
associated with polarization in highly propagandistic discourse.
Keywords: neurography, polarization, transgender studies.
1. Introduction
Is the change from atoms to bits indeed irrevocable and unstoppable?
(Negroponte, 1996). If someone had to answer this question in the late nineties,
they would probably have said no. Today, almost diirty years after die release of
Nicholas Negroponte's book, we can say that we are utterly dependent on bits.
Living without digitization might be possible if we were part of indigenous
tribes living outside the globalized world. However, digitization has brought
about an unstoppable revolution charactenzed by four forces: decentralization,
globalization, harmonization, and empowerment (Negroponte, 1996), which
has completely changed the way we live, including the way we interact with
other.
The communications of the modern world have enabled the vast global
spread of messages transmitted in ways in which space and time are often no
longer the privileged dimensions, allowing individuals to relate to each other
within frames of online interaction mediated by the new social media
(Thompson, 2018).
If it is true, then, that social meda has evolved exponentially over the last
decade, it is equally true that it has managed to penetrate the social context by
influencing, instilling, and often creating hitherto unknown phenomena.
This paper provides a contribution to the study of new oral social
platforms, focusing in particular on the Clubhouse platform, an entirely new
and little discussed social networking service, which had a great moment of
popularity during the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to
addressing aspects of an interpretative nature, this research therefore represents
an additional source for the analysis of the social consequences effected by new
technologies and the latest social media platforms.
The decision to investigate Clubhouse also derives from the fact that, in its
first year of activity, the platform relied exclusively on oral and acoustic
communication between individuals to the exclusion, at least until July 2021, of
any odier type of interaction.
While we do not currently know whether tins experiment will be successful,
our hypothesis is that orality will regain a predominant place in global
communication in the future. A t the current stage of research, however, it is not
yet possible to verify this assumption, and it will be necessary to follow closely
750
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UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based Soäal Media: ^4 Clubhouse Analysis
the evolution of the phenomenon of audio platforms, of which Clubhouse
represents the most successful attempt thus far.
2. From primary orality to secondary and tertiary orality
Communication is one of the elements that defines humanity. If
communication were only intra-personal, we would not need media, a means to
communicate with others. But what makes us human are relationships with
others, i.e. interpersonal and group interactions. Moreover, humans have
developed communication techniques that are more refined than those of any
other animal. The most refined is certainly language, understood as the ability
to communicate with words, which is the foundation of most of the media that
have contributed to the development of human culture. It is communication
that gives rise to a person's identity and role in society. It can even be said
without stereotypical banality that communication is social life and social life is
life itself.
Early humans most likely communicated using sounds, cries, and gestures,
thus forming an initial signaling code that gradually became more complex until
it culminated in the development of articulate speech during the Middle
Palaeolithic period (Barnard, 2016). Spoken language made it possible to grasp
reality in a new way and became the primary mode (or medium) of human
communication for thousands of years, liven today, there are small groups of
people hidden in the forests of the Amazon or Borneo who live in the same
way as their ancestors did 50,000 years ago; such cultures that still do not use
writing are called "primary oral cultures" (Ong, 2012 [1982]).
In the world of oral culture, all communication took place (and still does
today, in the case of non-literate communities) within close encounters between
people. The limitation of this form of communication is that the human voice
can only be heard at limited distances unless microphones connected to
sophisticated transmission equipment are used.
It is certain that emotions played a very important role in the world of
primary orality. It has been argued that the involvement of individuals in the act
of communicating in the age of so-called primary orality was much wider than
in today's world (Gronowski, 2010). Starting in the second half of the 15t h
century, as social communication has shifted first to printed paper, then to
electronic and digital media, thus giving preference to written or otherwise
visual forms of communication, the involvement of the whole individual has
been reduced in the overwhelming predominance of sight over all other senses.
The oral communication that predominated in the pre-literary phase of
humanity had its strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths included the
751
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
development of extremely powerful mnemonic techniques, as the human brain
could only preserve the data of human knowledge handed down from
generation to generation. However, the significant weaknesses of primary oral
communication included lack of introspection and, above all, analytical skills,
as well as the near impossibilitv of distinguishing die remote past from the
immediate past (cf. Jaynes, 1976).
Social and cultural anthropologists have devoted a great deal of attention
to oral cultures — both those of the past and the very few still present on the
planet. As early as the second half of the last century, Claude Levi-Strauss
(1958) stated that it was mainly through the use of words, rather than medicines
and herbal teas, that people of these cultures healed their fellow men or harmed
them, even to the point of causing death by alleged curse.
According to the literary historian Walter J. Ong, words intervened much
more concretely in real life and die results of disputes depended more on the
use made of words than on what we would today call "objective" factors. While
writing helps to support abstract thinking and distances it from the continuous
arena in which individuals confront each other, oral culture seems to be much
more agonistic and characterized by direct confrontations (Ong, 2012 [19 82],
43) in which insults and curses are not lacking1
.
The age of writing, which developed from the 8t h
century B C onwards and
reached its peak m the 16t h
-20t h
centuries, increasingly sidelined, or rather
silenced, oral culture. In the 20th century, a number of very powerful mass
media adopted the acoustic dimension, either exclusively (see radio) or in a
mixed way, accompanied by images (for example, sound cinema and television).
However, in all such cases, there were always written scenarios to which the oral
expressions had to adhere extremely stricdy2
.
The explosion of electronic communication, starting at the end of the 20th
century, represented the powerful, but at the same time ephemeral, return of
written communication. The masses of users who had been denied access to
mass media communication, which until the introduction of the Internet had
remained the exclusive prerogative of selected professionals such as journalists,
1
Ong uses the definition of "verbomotor" for the lifestyle of oral cultures, borrowing
an expression first used by the French anthropologist Marcel jousse, who addressed
oral cultures but focused mainly on gestures and rhythm as a form of technique to make
die fixation of cognitive data in die human brain possible (Tousse, 1925).
2
It could be argued that theatrical improvisation went outside the rigid schemes of
scripts. Indeed, unlike other media, theatre had a very old tradition connected with
improvisation, first attested as early as the 4t h
century BC at Orta di Atella in Campania
(cf. Meine, SuBner, 2020). 'Ihe very long tradition of popular theatre is the basis for the
persistence of improvisational dieatre, which in any case has always been a marginal
phenomenon compared to theatre based on scripts or canovacci.
752
Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based Soäal Media: ^4 Clubhouse Analysis
people of culture, science, and power, and show business stars, poured onto
computer keyboards3
.
With the evolution of what came to be known as social media,4
there has
been a shift from one-to-many and many-to-many communication to
exchanging opinions on a global scale. Facebook in particular, even diough it is
not part of the sphere of interest of generation Z and is also moving out of
the sphere of interest of many individuals belonging to what is known as
generation Y (Edison Research, 2019), has become the platform on which the
emotions and opinions of more than two billion people have been concentrated
through written form: the monthly active Facebook users worldwide is in fact despite
the degrowfh has begun - is still 2,936 billion (Statista, 2022).
There has been much discussion about the limits of communication in
general, and in particular about the mfinite possible interpretations of written
texts5
. However, the critical discourse seems to have remained confined to a
purely theoretical sphere, without the mass of users of written texts ever
becoming seriously aware of it. Proof of this is precisely the experience of
communication through social media, in particular Facebook, which in a short
time has become a tool for heated discussions between individuals and groups,
a tool that in some cases has even been considered to have encouraged the
organization of revolutions or at least popular uprisings, and has proven very
dangerous in the dissemination of manipulated news, which on this social
network has reached unprecedented levels (cf. Geeng, Savanna, Roesner, 2020).
The pervasive use of written (or textual) communication through social
media initially led to an underestimation of its public value; however, in die
immediate aftermath, interest exploded, in the held of legal studies and beyond,
in issues related to crimes committed through these mass media.
The decision to create platforms on which users could literally "fight"
through written statements was most likely intended from the outset, once Mark
Zuckerberg and his collaborators realized that social communication was
3
As Umberto Eco noted, using instead of the expression "masses of individuals", the
much more expressive "legions of imbeciles" (Eco, 2015) in reference to the users of
Twitter, but in general to users of the social media platforms most in vogue at the time
of his speech at die University of Turin in June 2015.
4
The term "social media" seems more like a semantic appropriation pushed by the
corporations present on the market than a term corresponding to a reality of
communication. In fact, if it is true that the so-called social media connect individuals
on a global scale, it also leads them to have attitudes of asociality and aggression never
known before (cf. Robbins, 2020).
D
A long series of examples, including humorous ones, concerning the very difficult
relationship between text and the reader were presented by Umberto Eco (1990) even
before the explosion of virtual communities on die Internet.
753
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
becoming tribalized and that communication models such as the transmission
of information, at least in terms of marketing, were no longer functional. A few
years before the emergence of virtual communities and then of social media,
James W . Carey had indicated what he called the "ritual model" as the most
productive communication model for the future (Carey, 2009). One of the basic
functions of his ritual model was to "maintain the community over time", rather
than the attempt to influence space, as was the case in linear transmission
models. The success of this theory has been seen in the tribal marketing
strategies mirroring the ritual model Carey proposed that today represent a
model adopted, even if not explicitly, bv the major social network giants, first
and foremost, at least as far as the Western world is concerned, by the American
company Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.)6
.
3. Clubhouse as the first mainstream audio-only social network
Computer- mediated communication (CMC) was characterized
predominantly by written formats for some time until the introduction of VoIP
(Voice over Internet Protocol), which made it possible to carry a vocal signal.
It is thanks to the technological innovation typical o f video games (Burnham,
2001), in which creators and players participate in rewriting the codes of games
and interactions between users, that we have begun to experiment widi the use
of orality m the world of virtual communities/
O n 18 March 2020, a new social media platform emerged called
Clubhouse, which was entirely based on oral communication.
There were other platforms before 2020 like CB Talk, Zello, and Discord,
and many others that were created after the launch of Clubhouse like Spotijy
Greenroom, Twitter Spaces.8
Clubhouse, ranked hottest Silicon Valley Start-Up for all of 2021, offers
synchronous audio streaming. It was created by Paul Davison (formerly Google,
Baine, and Pinterest) and Roan Seth (formerly Google).
During the first year since its launch. Clubhouse subscription (still in beta
mode) was only available to iOS users and by invitation only. Each new member
6
On the success of tribal marketing see Cova, Giordano, Pallera (2008).
The majority of video games are multiplayer online (MMO). This allows players to
complete levels through group action, create a common language, and progress in the
game through tips and tricks that only occur through interaction, thus leading to a social
adoption of technology (Turkle, 1995, Kendall, 2002).
8
Other platforms such as telegram, which is currently growing significantly offer
group audio chat possibilities. However, the main activity of Telegram is still focused
on written formats (Tonkih, 2021).
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Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based Soáal Media: Ji Clubhouse Analysis
was given five invitations, and fresh invitations were issued according to usage.
The app's popularity led many users to sell membership codes online9
.
Invitations could be purchased on Reddit, eBay, Craiglist, and private Facebook
groups at prices ranging from twenty dollars to over a hundred.
There was an increase in this phenomenon following an interview with
Elon Musk on 1 February 2021. Musk's appearance was so popular that the app
went haywire (only 5,000 simultaneous listeners could be had at any one time)
and generated secondary "overflow" rooms1 0
on Clubhouse, YouTubc, and
other live-streaming platforms1 1
.
Shortly after Musk's interview, the hashtag Clubhouse invite code trended
on the Chinese social media site Weibo. Users began selling invitation codes at
prices from 150 Yuan to 400 Yuan on the e-commerce sites Xianyu and Taobao,
even though the app was not technically available for download in the country
(users can access it by switching to a non-Chinese Apple account)1 2
.
Clubhouse became available to android users on 21 May 2021, but still by
invitation only, and on 21 July the platform was finally opened to anyone who
wanted to join without any limit.
Moreover, in the beginning, Clubhouse was voice-only synchronic and did
not offer the option to write any text. It was only permitted to add a link to
Twitter and Instagram on the bio profile. This proves once again that we live in
a culture of convergence where old and new media interact in increasingly
complex ways. There is no single black box controlling the flow of information
and communication. Due to the proliferation of channels and technologies, we
are in an era where media are everywhere and interact and interchange with each
other (Jenkins, 2006). O n 14 July, the platform launched a new feature of chat
called backchannel.
The landing page, called Hallway, shows different rooms that are spaces for
discussion that users can enter. Y o u cannot see and you cannot enter rooms if
you have been blocked by a user who is among the speakers. There are different
types of rooms: open to everyone; social, i.e. visible only to users followed by
whoever opened the room; and closed.
There are also thematic clubs where it is possible to create closed or open
subject rooms. A t Clubhouse, it's possible to become a member of a club that
https://www.newsweek.com/clubhouse-ebay-listings-sell-invites-audio-app-ios-
hundreds-dollars-1571609
1 0
Rooms are definite the vocal chat on Clubhouse platform.
1 1
https://techcrunch.com/2021 /01/31/elon-musk-goes-live-on-clubhouse-but-with-
the-room-full-fans-stream-audio-on-youtube/
1 2
https://qz.com/1968015/clubhouse-invite-codes-are-becommg-hot-merhan-dise-
in-china/
755
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
matches the user's interests. The clubs can be found either by searching from
the landing page or scrolling down to the bottom of user profiles, where it
shows the clubs the user is a member of. Clubhouse in August has switched the
relationship of club members from followers to membership. The management
of a club consists of three hierarchical roles: Admin, Leaders, and Members.1 3
The Admin can choose to make membership in the club open (meaning anyone
can join as a Member) or by approval (meaning that all users who apply for
membership arc approved on an individual basis). It's also possible to hide the
"Join the Club" button from the club page to make it truly invite-only. The
Admin manages membership types and can nominate the leader. The Admin
can edit the club settings or name, and add or remove members from the club.
They can also start rooms and schedule events that notify all club members, and
can be informed about and attend shows or events. Leaders can only create
rooms and schedule events that notify all club members, and Members are the
ones who attend rooms and are notified of events.
In each room, there are different types of participants: the Moderator, the
Speakers, and the Audience (which is categorized as followed by Speakers and
not followed by Speakers). Moderators are the ones who create the room and
manage the space, and they have different powers: they can decide who to hay^e
on stage, give a speech, turn off a speaker's microphone or put them back in
the audience, and they can even kick a person out of the room without allowing
him or her to return. Speakers come up from the Audience to interact in the
room and the Audiences are people who can only listen until they ask to come
up to the stage.
There have been several updates since the implementation of chat in July.
In September, Clips were introduced, which allow anyone to share 30-second
clips of public rooms and can be enabled or disabled by the Moderator. October
saw the introduction of Pinned Links, which allows the Moderator to pin a link
to the top of the room, and any Moderator can change or remove the link
anytime. In November, Replays were introduced, a handy feature offered by
Clubhouse that enables anyone to catch up on past chats. This allows for
Clubhouse rooms to be listened to in a podcast-like way, but with more
interactive live features like Pull-To-Refresh (PTR), Leave Quietly, mic taps,
etc. A n d January' sayv the introduction of Sharing, i.e. a new way to spread the
word about great rooms.
1 3
A n analogy could be drawn between Clubhouse groups and the so-called guilds in
role-playing games (RPG). In RPG guilds we find permanent users, internal hierarchies,
and social, emotional, and psychological support (Taylor, 2006).
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Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based Soäal Media: ^4 Clubhouse Analysis
4. The future of social networking services and theriseof voice-based
platforms
The development of digital media has strongly influenced the birth of
modern societies. It has facilitated the transmission of information and
symbolic content and the creation of new forms of action, interaction, and
social relations. Relationships with others and with oneself have been modified
by the exponential development of computer networks, which in addition to
creating new forms and new channels of communication, are shaping the lives
of individuals, structuring society around a bipolar opposition between the net
and the self (Castclls, 2000[1996]) that often tends to blur, if not vanish.
The same concepts of space and time have been radically transformed,
giving rise to new ways of sharing the same virtual environment, which makes
studying these asynchronous connections essential for understanding the
cultural and social effects of this new "technosociety" (Lovink, 2019).
The first communication tools that appeared on the Internet allowed users
to write on pre-established interfaces, which led to a new literacy diat simplified
language and the sharing of interpersonal messages, From words written in
diaries on IRC, MySpace, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and others, we progressed
to image sharing. From pictures sent and "posted" on Instagram, the
progression to video (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and others) has been almost
entirely automatic: it has become the norm to tell one's personal story or social
and political engagement in 30-second pictures that vanish within 24 hours or
are shared perpetually.
Suppose Narcissus, in the observation of an extended mirror image of
himself, enters into a state of numbness and narcosis. In that case, the human
being succumbs to the same sort of fascination when coming into contact with
a new invention that tends to extend the self. "Thus, each medium's individual
and social consequences derive from the new proportions introduced into our
personal affairs by each such extension or new technology" (McLuhan,
1967[1964],25).
One example of the social consequences that social networking services
have introduced is the increasing concern that social media might lead to social
anxiety in users fjclcnchick, Eickhoff, Moreno, 2013). The most discussed
example is Instagram. O n social media, people also often selectively reveal
themselves and construct their preferred identities or characteristics by applying
a range of enhancement filters. According to studies, such use did not direcdy
increase social anxiety; its effect was completely mediated by social comparison
and self-esteem (Jiang, Ngieng, 2020).
Getting back to the use of voice on social networking services, die "global
village" results from the introduction of electronic media such as radio and
757
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
television into literate societies (McLuhan, Powers, 1996 [1992]). For de
Kerckhove, new technologies have led to a tertiary orality or tertiary sensonality,
"that of multimedia systems, virtual reality, and the web. It is an electronic
orality, like the latter, but unlike it, it is based on the simulation of sensoriality
rather than its transmission. Through, for example, die 'beep' of mobile phones
or computers, tertiary orality is characterized by a tactile language that gives
feedback to our actions, in a sort of organic simulation" (Buffardi, de
Kerckhove, 2011, 41). For de Kerckhove, real time is the condition of tertiary
orality but until now most social media has been characterized by an extension
of time where asynchronicity has been the norm. For these reasons it was
deemed necessary to study a platform such as Clubhouse that made possible
online interaction that allows information or content to be transmitted to
individuals who are distant in space but not in time.
In this regard, it is worth recalling the debate that opened with the
introduction of the telephone. For the first time, it was possible to interact with
people at a long distance in real-time and to create connections even with
strangers. It was even assumed that without the telephone, it was impossible to
develop a sense of community and that this medium served to remove the
feeling of loneliness and insecurity of farmers' wives; yet for some critics, the
telephone increased fears and loneliness, not only because virtual encounters
replaced physical ones but also because, for the first time, an object had been
imposed that crept into the home and increased the social inequalities between
those who could afford it and those who could not (Balbi, 2013, Rospocher,
Balbi, 2021).
From the first observation, Clubhouse allowed its members to expand their
network1 4
. People present themselves through an element of bodily physicality
that is the voice in a synchronic virtual space. Users, from careful observation,
have preserved their uniqueness without having to resort to actual fiction as
happens in other social networks; this has occurred not only because a
subscription requires a first and last name, but also because constantly speaking
docs not make it easy to get away with telling lies or pretending to be someone
else.
Users in Clubhouse use words to discuss, engage in intellectual discourse,
exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, gossip, feud, fall in
love, find friends and lose them, and exchange a lot of useless chatter. As
Rheingold said, people in virtual communities do almost everything they do in
real life, leaving their bodies behind (Rheingold, 1993).
1 4
We consider the word Network to represent a sociotechmcal and material system made
of interrelated technologies assembled by humans, social groups where humans meet
face-to-face, in virtual settings, or in groups that never meet but to which people belong.
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Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based SocialMedia: J{ Clubhouse Analysis
As human beings, we have perceptions, thoughts, and personalities that are
affected by how we use the medium and how it uses us; we also have mediated
many-to-many interactions online, where relationships and communities arise.
The social networking capital, knowledge, dialogue, and recognition make
Clubhouse a virtual space where people are placed at the center of a virtual
community, and we believe this the future of social media sites.
5. Polari2ation effect on voice-based social media platforms: the Italian
case
In its early days, Clubhouse in Italy was populated by journalists, politicians,
actors, singers, well-known names from the world of entertainment,
entrepreneurs, and intellectuals, which led to the creation of lively debates and
learning rooms.
Well-known print journalists succeeded m managing the moderation such
that even the presence of more or less controversial political figures in their
rooms did not give rise to loud verbal clashes and polemics. This is not the case
when moderation is managed by individuals who try to steer the discussion to
favor a specific politician or a specific current of opinion.
In the past, polarization centered around important subjects that needed
to be addressed, and we were forced to confront and resolve these
dsagreements. N o w our once-peaceful society has been lacerated by
technologically-driven opportunistic polarization shaped by algorithms and
insiders (Sunstein, 2009; Talisse, 2019). Communications technologies promise
to be moduled to the needs of niche audiences or specific individual users,
leading to an increase in diversity in society and the breakdown of cohesion (de
Sola Pool, 1990). Like-minded individuals naturally clump together and end up
unreasonably increasing the trust of others and themselves. They become
incapable of finding unifying principles or acting upon points of consensus. A
society in which it becomes easy for each small group to pander to its own tastes
will have a harder time mobilizing unity and establishing consistency in
intellectual debate, such a society will promote individualism. Living and
interacting with like-minded people, constandy hearing our beliefs affirmed,
increases our confidence because we are overexposed to supportive voices and
underexposed to contrary voices. Social media uses algorithms to accelerate this
process.
Moreover, group polarization leads to embracing a more extreme version
of the initial opinion, increasing our certainties with rationakty-undcrmintng
effects that affect both sides.
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Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
Any of us who spend our time around like-minded folks should seriously
question our confidence in our shared beliefs.
It has been noted that rooms with highly divisive topics were often opened
to increase the audience.
From January 2021, Clubhouse was a batdeground between supporters of
politician and journalist Mario Adinolfi and his opponents, mainly individuals
from what has come to be referred to as the "Afro-descendant community", i.e.
B I P O C young people born in Italy or adopted in the last twenty years by Italian
families, or from the L G B T Q + community, i.e. individuals and organized
groups of people practicing non-heterosexual sexuality and non-cisgender
identity1 5
. The debates focused particularlv on a proposed law against violence
or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, better
known as " D D L Zan".1 6
Still, they also covered other issues: from international
politics to COVID-19 vaccination to a referendum on euthanasia. Two
traditional poktical ideologies clashed, the conservative one supported by Mario
Adinolfi and his followers and the liberal one supported by die above
"communities". The conflict was also reported in die national press. Everything
took place within the platform, which decided on 15 Aptil 2021 after repeated
reports to block Mario Adinolfi's account for a few days1
.
From observations of the Clubhouse and Instagram profiles of the "Afrodescendant
community", it consists of young people belonging exclusively to
Generation Z. The L G B T Q + community is largely represented be Generations
Y and Z , with some users from Generation X . Users from all generations have
registered on the platform.1 8
1 =
There is no evidence diat all those who participated in these Clubhouse discussions
were part of organized communities; however, even in the form of individual
interventions, people who sided with one of the two "communities" was considered by
the audience as belonging to one of diem.
1 6
" D D L Zan" refers Lo the bill {disegno di legge) proposed by a member of the lower
house of the Italian parliament, Alessandro Zan. Zan is an LGBT activist and one of
the main supporters of implementing a law to providing civil unions for same-sex and
non-binary couples (Acernese, 2021).
1
Mario Adinolfi's reactions to his ban from die platform were reported by the
Adnkronos news agency (2021).
1 8
Even if voice chats play a dominant role within die gaming world and create a sociality
between different players, we believe that the gaming world is already highly polarized
such that it cannot be confused widi a voice-based platform. Video games often create
realities that move from the despotic to the Utopian to the diachronic or that re-tell
historical facts. This leads us to avoid lumping the two models together as the gaming
world has a completely different purpose than that of simple social media such as
Clubhouse.
760
Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based SocialMedia: A Clubhouse Analysis
6. The netnographic observation
The synchronicity typical of oral platforms such as Clubhouse and this type
of human moderation prompted us to experiment with an archaic form of
moderation characteristic of the agora of ancient Greece. In our netnographic
research, we attempted to study the relational and cultural experiences that arise
from the use of Clubhouses according to the principle of "following the
medium" (Rogers, 2013), despite the clear fact that it is impossible not to
consider the convergence between different social media as vital to the ultimate
purpose.
Wc hypothesize therefore that not only will voice-based platforms play a
dominant role, but that orality will be increasingly present in C M C
communication.
We adopted two distinct approaches in our research.
Laura Caroleo observed the field in covert access or lurker mode, deciding
to reveal her identity as a researcher only 13 months after die first data collection
and only widi regard to interviews. Giuseppe Maiello used an overt access
approach, disclosing that he was an anthropologist without ever emphasizing
this fact or his research aims.
According to die latest data released by Clubhouse in April 2021, there are
10 million members worldwide and 400,000 members in Italy1 9
. Although we
have contacted the platform direcdy, we have not been provided with updated
data. However, the Clubhouse press office has provided data showing that over
700,000 rooms take place on the platform every day, with an average daily stay
of 70 minutes2 0
.
The lurking period served to analyze the community by identifying opinion
leaders, key members, and reference rooms. During the information-gathering
phase, the researchers took notes, captured screenshots of die rooms, and
analyzed the profiles of opinion leaders and members and the most active clubs.
Only after the introduction of Replays was it possible to listen again to some
of the most interesting rooms (in order not to violate the application's policies).
1 9
https://www.repubblica.it/venera1
i/2021/11/ 19/news/clubhouse_social-3264
69898/
2 0
Here is the text of the e-mail we received from the Italian press office of Clubhouse:
"Hi Laura, I have spoken with the HO of Clubhouse and they have confirmed that the only data
they can make public are those contained in the boilerplate of the press releases that I quote below.
'About Clubhouse. Clubhouse is a new type of social network based on voice. People around the world
come together on Clubhouse to talk, listen, and karnfiromeach other in real lime about topics like
music, comedy, politics, dating, and more. Over 700,000 rooms takeplace daily on theplatform with
users spending an average of 70 minutes in rooms at a time. For more information about Clubhouse,
visit clubhouse.com orfollow the company on Twitter, lnstagram, and Linkedln'".
761
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
Observations showed that the most popular and oldest clubs have between
24,700 members (Clubitalia) and 1,500 members {Italian Observer). Equally
important are the clubs ltaliáni in USA (1,300 members), Italiani nelMondo (1,200
members), and Growing Up Italian (10,600 members) where people of Italian
nationality living abroad meet.
Also worthy of note are the clubs of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation and the
Guarini Institute of John Cabot University, as well as openly political clubs such
as Destra e dintorni, Left Italia, and Antifasámo e Costitu^ione
A n honorable mention goes to My Dire Club, which has maintained an
active room for 1,653 hours.
Approximation and misinformation have emerged, resulting in the spread
of fake news.
The platform has witnessed the emergence both of counter rooms, to
counter-argue and counter-inform, and echo chambers. This has been
characterized by a worrying poktical apathy, conspiracy theorizing, and
demystificatioii of scientific truths.
The mam areas of confrontation over 13 mondis of observation have
touched on: D D L Zan and LGBT0+ issues, the referendum on euthanasia and
soft drugs, cancel culture, the Black Lives Matter Movement, vaccines, the war
in Ukraine2 1
, and highly divisive daily news. It was noted that the most popular
rooms were and are those with a talk show format in which highly controversial
topics are debated.
Unfortunately, all these negative phenomena occurred when the rooms
were no longer being opened and moderated by journalists and experts but by
ordinary users. Although we debated carrying out our interviews on Clubhouse,
they were deliberately conducted via telephone in order to detach us from the
analyzed medium and used specific questions structured around a predefined
grid.
The individual interviews were based on a dyadic relationship between
interviewer and interviewee to understand the perception of polarization within
the Clubhouse platform. The interviewees were chosen using a nonprobabilistic
criterion.
2 1
Under the international club The Big Picture, there's a room open since 24 February
entitled "Ukraine Sitrep: Live Updates, Developments & Analysis". Around 1 million
people had passed through as of 20 April; we don't know how long it will remain open
and how many more people will enter.
762
Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based SocialMedia: A Clubhouse Analysis
7. Results
Out of all Clubhouse users, we chose as privileged witnesses one
conservative politician and opinionist (A) and one liberal transwoman activist
(B), plus other informants whose identities we will of course not reveal.2 2
To the question "Why do you use Clubhouse, and what do you think about
oral platforms?", (A) says:
I use Clubhouse because it happened to me. I joined die Boomers group2 3
, who
promoted a daily room on Clubhouse every day from 12 pm to 15 pm, and I
found myself captivated and amused. Moreover, belonging to a group made
everything less demanding. I've experimented with this new social media,
which has allowed me in over 1,000 hours in the Boomers room to talk to
around 100,000 people direcdy, which I consider a real achievement in just
over a year. From a social media perspective, Clubhouse provides a different
type of contact and is reminiscent of die logic of traditional media, with its
programmability and seriality. I have not used other oral platforms such as
Twitter spaces because I diought they were less fun.
As for (B):
Clubhouse was recommended to me by a friend because he thought my voice
and thoughts could find space on an oral platform. Moreover, it is a choral
platform that gathers many opinions.
I immediately appreciated die fact that what you had to say and who you are
got dirough to odiers. Having a constructed image often confuses the idea
of what I think and who am I, stereotyping me as a blonde.
On Clubhouse, speeches are much more practical and efficient because you
don't have the disturbing elements you have on Instagram live. Here you have
free flow of thought.
To die question about polarized arguments and die possibility of
convincing someone to switch to his side, (A) answered:
2 2
We decided to transcribe these two interviews due die fundamental role played by
diis informant in our research
2 3
The word Boomers refers to a room opened first under the club Ea Voce D 'Italia and
then under the club Slorie founded by Adinolfi. The Boomers room was the most
divisive and the most frequented on the platform. Its characteristic is that it has a welldefined
moderation, people who are dedicated to maintaining the room's performance
in a scrupulous manner.
763
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
I think I can do questionable seminars. I did it on the vaccine issue, the
eudianasia referendum, and die Zan bill. My opponents saw me as someone
who could sow doubt. The objective is not to take a person who thinks
differently from you and bring him to your side. There is an audience, people
who pass through polarized rooms, and the idea is to play on this dynamic
and succeed in sowing doubt in the opposing camp, and I did it.
To the question about why people participate so vehemently in debates
while remaining adamant in their positions, and to what end, the privileged
witnesses answered:
(A). I am a professional journalist, an intellectual, and a polemicist in this
country. You have to distinguish between two levels: the level of your
opponent whom you can't convince, and then you have die audience that is
listening. At Clubhouse, 1 have die stage where f discuss with polarized
people, but I also have an audience that is more important than the stage.
The aim is not the confrontation but die impact on the listener. The aim is
to win batdes. I had opposing positions on some topics, and I worked to
bring these positions to society and the media. I couldn't find a newspaper
against the referendum on eudianasia, so I articulated my opposing opinion
backed up by facts. Rveryone thought I was defeated like an underdog, just
as they did on the Zan bill and the vaccine. The battie is never lost from the
start if you create dialectical conditions.
(R): T think they do it because they have a huge ego and are narcissistic, which
is a solid component of oratory. Many speak to give air to a truncated ego
that feeds on self-aggrandizement. That's the purpose; to massage the ego.
Both were banned from the platform for violating hate speech policies, so
we asked how they felt when they received the ban from Clubhouse.2 4
(A): I felt offended because I have been working as a journalist for 31 years,
and no one has ever managed to take me to trial for defamation. Also, I am
cautious about die words that I use. I never offend anyone. I discuss an idea
very fervendy but never offend a category or a person. I was certain that I
was not guilty of hate speech. I had been challenged by some organized users,
opponents who didn't want die doubt I mentioned earlier to be spread. In
the end, Clubhouse had no choice but to give me back my honor and my
profile.
2 4
(A) was banned on 16 April 2021, and (B) on 12 March 2022. We did not find a clear
explanation of hate speech in die community guidelines,
https://community,clubhouse.com
764
Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based SocialMedia: A Clubhouse Analysis
(B): I didn't get any response from the platform. They kept claiming that I
violated all die guidelines as a hate-monger. I'm used to being excluded and
silenced.
To the question as to how mutual aggression should be limited on oral
platforms, the privileged witnesses answered:
(A) : I am against blocks, I have never blocked anyone no matter what I have
been told. I am against blocks and it is right to register the rooms to protect
ourselves in the appropriate places dirough replays. Anyone who is
uncomfortable has in die recording die certainty and the proof to be able to
take legal action.
(B) : A platform like Clubhouse should have human vigilantes and not
algorithms. If you're explaining die history of racism, the n-word plays a role
and is not merely something you should not say. The use of the word explains
why that word exists, and it is also essential in L G B T Q history to use some
words diat are part of an identity discourse drat cannot be forgotten. You
can't apply cancel culture.
We wanted also to know more about the perception of polarization on
written and oral platforms. According to the privileged witnesses:
(A) : On written platforms, everything is much harsher and more offensive
because of the use of fake profiles. The polarization on oral voice-based
social media is immediate and the rooms are already polarized, as is evident
from die discussion.
The polarization on oral platforms remains even if we all find ourselves
talking in other rooms. It is not that the opposition has become favorable to
you. You seek to insinuate doubts in those who come to listen.
(B) : Facebook remains written. The orality is lost unless it crystallizes into
conversations over time that are resumed.
(A) : The verbal violence in Clubhouse is much harsher. Even me, I am
harsher. Rather than verbal violence, there may be more arduous debate on
Clubhouse.
(B) : In my opinion, there are two different types of violence, also because of
the traumas one has experienced. Having voice dysphoria, I have suffered
violence on Clubhouse that I have never suffered on other platforms. At
Clubhouse, I was publicly mocked because of my voice. People who couldn't
place me called me names and gave me the worst epithets. Actual violence
was when I confronted a person to whom I was explaining my lived
"65
Italian Sociological Review, 2022, 12, 7S,pp. 749 — 770
experience as a trans woman, and after speaking about it for 2 hours, I was
told that it was not the case and that I was contrary to nature.
A l l other informants we approached also believe that Clubhouse does not
allow for misrepresentation, also because the introduction of vocal cues
complicates anonymity online.
Another interesting aspect that has emerged is that the element of bodily
physicality that voice represents has led users to appreciate Clubhouse greatly.
The voice is seen as a warm element tiiat brings people closer together, because
audio is considered an intimate medium. The rooms, presenting themselves as
chats with multiple people, empathize with the voice and create a small
community that some define as familiar.
The literature also suggests that the use of voice can create a closer
connection between users by increasing social cues, mutual trust, and
cooperation in a manner similar to the standards of face-to-face
communication. Through voice, it is possible to perceive whether a speaker is
human, what gender they belong to, their personality, and from there to judge
the intelligence of others to whom the speaker in the first clause would be
compared and understand if a person is compatible whit the speaker (Reeves,
Nass, 1996; Nass, Gong, 2000; Nass, Lee, 2000).
8. Conclusions
To date, the stream or audio flow of Clubhouse can be considered a
continuum of information that reaches everyone connected at that instant of
time. Let us imagine the data stream as a file and the social network as a new
form of browser, since the audio is sent in real-time and not deferred, everyone
is present in that room and, at that moment, appear to be unobjectionable, since
those who find themselves engaged in discussion in a room in real-time are as
if they were present m a living room.
In its first year of existence, Clubhouse seems to have experienced a trend
similar to that of the most popular social network globally, Facebook. In
concrete terms, Clubhouse also went through an initial phase of discovery,
attempts to understand the possibilities offered by the platform, and finally
acceptance as a "social" network offering discussions and exchanges of ideas
in telematic and non-physical spaces. Like social networks based on group
communication m written form, Clubhouse also soon created groups of users
with similar ideological positions and worldviews. This inevitably led to more
or less bloody ideological clashes, even to die use of die room exclusion system,
or even, as in the cases we have seen, to blocks and complaints.
766
Laura Caroleo, Giuseppe Maiello
UnderstandingPolari^ation Effects on Voice-Based SocialMedia: A Clubhouse Analysis
Despite often declaring that they felt "offended" by the words of those
who opposed their opinions, the individuals and groups consider the blocking
of the unwanted user as the most appropriate way to "punish" their opponents.
Clubhouse is also conceived as a platform for political propaganda and
despite the restrictions imposed by the platform, there is no lack of gender bias.
When asked about their perceptions of polarization, all of our respondents
- both the privileged witnesses and the other informants - gave varying
responses, although it emerged that most thought that oral platforms were more
polarized.
Both authors of this study, based on their observant participation, confirm
that the hopes of those who saw in audio-only social media the possibility of
overcoming the profound polarization created particularly with the global rise
of Facebook and Google, have yet to be realized.
Furthermore, we cannot confirm our hypodiesis on die potential for
success of voice-based platforms and an increase in oral communication in
computer-mediated communication based on the Clubhouse experience. N o t
only because the data currently available are extremely scarce, but also because
this perspective is not common among users of voice-based social media
themselves. However, the impressive mcrease in the number of users of
podcasts and audio books, and the parallel decrease in users of printed books
and newspapers or magazines, seem to indicate that a shift from written to oral
communication taking place is in any case. It is not clear, however, whether
social media, apart from a few experiments such as that of Clubhouse, is able
to adapt to this trend.
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