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Follower craze, imposters rule Clubhouse as Bengaluru rooms mushroom

Instant but bizarre
Last Updated 10 June 2021, 04:03 IST

Hooked to Clubhouse, the new voice-only kid on the social media block, as Bengalureans spring up dozens of city-themed rooms, the platform is going crazy over a new trend: Rooms beckoning users with an astounding offer to boost their follower count from 500 to 2,000 in hours.

For now, this is not about money but influence, conjured up through collaborative, frenzied mutual following. Sounding authoritative and firm, the self-proclaimed moderators are on a constant ‘shoutathon’, urging everyone in the room to follow each other. Stay put and keep pressing the follow button. The more one stays, the better their influence. Or so they claim.

Pioneering this week-old craze are the Malayali groups, first off the post to stamp a massive presence in Clubhouse. The platform algorithm does block the frenzied following. But the smart tweakers in the room have learnt to beat it. Follow 10, pause for 10 seconds, repeat. The moderators repeat this mantra on a loop.

‘1K Followers, Come In’, proclaims one room in big bold letters on the Clubhouse Feed. Dive in, and you hear the moderator identify a newcomer with just 10 followers. “People, search for that profile called Rashi with a blue shirt and sunglass. Show your love, everyone, follow him. Rashi, follow them all back. This is your golden chance,” the moderator is determined to make Rashi the star of the day.

Stumped by this bizarre trend, social media analysts call it unprecedented. They had seen celebrities and influencers either take the organic or paid route to boost their Twitter and Instagram follower base. But the Clubhouse method was interactive, instant and persuasive.

Egged on by the moderators, users had to be in the game for hours, surrender to the diktats, mute their mikes and simply follow in hordes. They had to be careful not to unmute and rub the moderators on the wrong side.

A user dared to do this, only to spark an angry outburst: “Don’t you dare. I am short-tempered, and I have been moderating since early morning just for your sake. Don’t you want to get 1K followers to boost your strength?”

Actor Prithviraj’s imposter rules Clubhouse

Posing as Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, a mimicry artiste had a packed Clubhouse room of over 2,500 people completely hooked for hours. The deceit was so convincing that Prithviraj himself had to call it out through a tweet.

It read: “Claiming to be me on social media is one thing. Claiming to be me, mimicking my voice, and using an ID that closely resembles my insta handle is
all together criminal. Please stop this. I AM NOT ON CLUBHOUSE!”

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(Published 09 June 2021, 20:06 IST)

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