Social:Collab house

Short description: Residential property where content creators live and create content for social media platforms

A collab house or also known as a content house or creator house, is a residential property where content creators live and create content for social media platforms.

They are most associated with the users of TikTok, a video-sharing social networking service; and have been referred to as 'TikTok houses'.

History and format

The origins of collab houses date back to 2014 when the members of Our Second Life lived and created content in their 02L Mansion. In 2015 popular users of Vine occupied an apartment at 1600 Vine Street in Los Angeles.

The proximity of fellow content creators and the availability of emotional support from their peers have contributed to the popularity of collab houses. It is essential that a collab house has lots of natural light and privacy from fans and neighbors.

Barrett Swanson, writing for Harper's Magazine, described collab houses as "grotesquely lavish abodes where teens and early twenty somethings live and work together, trying to achieve viral fame on a variety of media platforms" and attributed their rise in popularity to the COVID-19 pandemic when they "began to proliferate in impressive if not mind-boggling numbers, to the point where it became difficult for a casual observer even to keep track of them". Swanson stayed at the Clubhouse For the Boys in Los Angeles and felt that the management of the clubhouse "actually care[d] very little about the long-term fates of these kids. After all, there's a fungible supply of well-complected youngsters constantly streaming into Los Angeles. Only a very small percentage of these kids will actually make it in the industry; the rest of them, Amir tells me, will eventually just "cycle through".

The Clubhouse For the Boys in Los Angeles was based in a 7,000sq ft house valued at $8 million. The occupants of the house were expected to post three to five videos a week to social media accounts linked to the Clubhouse in exchange for free room and board. The house was owned by external investors who took up to 20% of the earnings of the occupants.

The house had House Rules listed on a whiteboard, which included exhortations to refrain from drinking alcohol between Sunday and Thursday and to "finish brand deliverables before inviting guests".

The popularity of collab houses arose at the same time as the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Swanson felt that several articles in The New York Times about the collab houses had characterized their residents as "incorrigible Dionysians" as a result of the disparity between their lifestyle and the demands of the public health emergency.

A January 2020 article in The New York Times described Los Angeles as "home to a land rush" of collab houses. Hype House, a collective of content creators was set in a 'Spanish-style mansion perched at the top of a hill on a gated street' with a 'a palatial backyard, a pool and enormous kitchen, dining and living quarters' and was home to four members of the group.

Hype House was formed in December 2019, TikTok videos tagged #hypehouse had accrued 100 million views by January 2020.

Partial list of collab houses

• AMP House
• Byte House
• Clubhouse BH
• Clubhouse Beverly Hills
• Clubhouse FTB
• Clubhouse For the Boys
• Drip House
• FaZe House
• Girls in the Valley
• Gotham House
• Hype House
• Not a Content House
• Sway House

'YouTuber' mansions

• The Vlog Squad house in Studio City
• Jake Paul's Team 10 in West Hollywood and Calabasas
• The Clout House in the Hollywood Hills

See also

• Art commune
• Atelier
• Club (organization)
• Content house
• The Factory
• Hype (marketing)
• Social club