Clubhouse is building a DM text chat feature

Some Clubhouse users were treated to a surprise feature in their favorite app, but it wasn't long for this world. A new UI element called backchannel" popped up briefly before disappearing late last week, pointing the Clubhouse faithful to a new area of the app and generating plenty of chatter among users ready for more ways to connect.

Wow looks like accidental update of @clubhouse enabled in app backchannel & switch of side bar & full experience.

Seems it's rolled back now but from what I saw it was beautiful!!

On stage > move to hallway > hit arrow > back channel popped up! @jowyang @GaryLHenderson pic.twitter.com/5bJfVlg7t5

- Brian Fanzo Keynote Speaker $ADHD (@iSocialFanz) June 18, 2021

While the backchannel screen was totally blank without so much as a text entry box, it looks like the company is working on building out the text chat feature that Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison previously discussed in a company town hall.

.... I think that there are so many people who do DM backchannels all the time, so many people who want to deepen friendships and relationships with people and do all sorts of other stuff - I think this is something that we should have," Davison said.

Here's a comment where @pdavison mentions the need for a backchannel of sorts (where people can DM each other) for @Clubhouse during a recent town hall.

/via @_SimonLau cc @morqon @BryanMenegus pic.twitter.com/qTwTDN6GZU

- Chris Messina (@chrismessina) June 21, 2021

The Clubhouse co-founder went on to say that building the feature to suit the app's use cases won't be trivial and wouldn't be happening right away. He also declined to elaborate on if the app would add traditional one-on-one DMs or a more open group text chat feature.

When reached for comment, Clubhouse didn't dissuade TechCrunch from the assumption that a messaging feature is around the corner, but issued a coy statement.

As part of our product building process, Clubhouse regularly explores and tests potential features," a Clubhouse spokesperson told TechCrunch. These functions sometimes become part of the app, sometimes they don't."

Spotify's new Clubhouse copycat app Greenroom offers its own live text chatroom that users can access by swiping right in the app, giving it a bit of flexibility that Clubhouse has yet to offer. From the looks of the Clubhouse backchannel feature, it also lives in a window accessed through swiping, though that's obviously subject to change.

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