Like most Clubhouse users, Rahaf Harfoush doesn’t make money on the app. But she does help others avoid losing it.
Harfoush, a digital anthropologist and author who lives in Paris, is part of an “anti-grift squad” that helps newcomers to the audio-only interactive streaming platform avoid falling prey to scams.
She and a crew of veteran users dedicate hours each week to running free onboarding sessions for first-time users, and host a weekly room, or session, on the app to document some of the shady practices they see cropping up. Harfoush believes the intimacy of intimacy of Clubhouse’s format — a cross between a conference panel discussion and a radio call-in show — makes even familiar scams more effective. “We’re naturally more persuadable by hearing somebody talk to us than reading something,” she said.
But it’s the positive side of the app that Harfoush says motivates her and her friends to spend hours each week providing volunteer services to a for-profit, venture capital-funded tech startup.