The ever popular audio-only broadcasting platform Clubhouse has officially announced the new Backchannel direct messaging feature. As you may recall from our report published last month, the function was originally introduced prematurely and was immediately taken down after briefly appearing on random chat sessions.
This time around, a fully functioning version of the feature is now available to all Clubhouse users around the world – provided that you’ve updated the app to the latest version. As previously “teased” by the platform, Backchannel allows you to send direct messages to other users as a group or as a one-on-one private chat.
To use the feature, simply tap on the new “paper airplane” icon located at the bottom right of the screen. From here, you’ll find the new Backchannel menu, where all of your messages and chat requests are stored. In order to compose a new message, tap on the button on the upper right corner of the screen in the same menu and then select the recipient that you wish to send a message to.
My hat? Tipped
My mic? Flashed
My messaging? Direct.After we unintentionally leaked their feature 5 times, here's our beloved engineering team introducing the new Clubhouse Backchannel 🥰 pic.twitter.com/3bPHeGxQaZ
— Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) July 14, 2021
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Interestingly, your list of contacts are not limited to just friends, as it includes the names of people you follow as well – including celebrities and other public figures. Whether you wish to directly message those in the latter group is entirely up to you, but chances of them actually replying to you might be pretty thin.
It is also worth noting that Backchannel is still not as fleshed out as other private or direct messengers offered by other platforms such as Facebook or Twitter at this time. Currently, the feature is barebones at best, with no options to send images, videos, or even emojis. You can’t delete past chats either, so be prepared for a bit of clutter in your inbox.
Further improvements and new features are planned to be introduced to Backchannel soon, as confirmed by a Clubhouse spokesperson to The Verge. However, they did not mention what exactly are these new additions at this time, or when they are expected to go live on the app.
