A Study On Social Media
In building a community, we need a place for people to congregate.
Given the scale we would like to operate at, this adds the constraint that it must be an online community.
With that said, what is a community, much less an “online” one?
To my understanding, a community is a group of people with something in common. I think that’s all there is to it really.
The things binding them can be physical – like location, or abstract – like common interests.
With that said, an active community is a different story. I think when comparing how some communities are more active than others, it seems that the definition of what a community is needs redefining.
I think that a community is a group of people with a common pursuit.
I believe that this definition should prove more able to explain the difference between a really active community and a less active one.
How intently are they pursuing the goal?
I think that like most things, there is a sweet spot. An optimal point. Too little, like something from an anime that aired 25 years ago and really doesn’t have any new merch dropping, and the community fizzles out and only leaves the diehards.
Too much, like the pursuit of money in the face of poverty, and the participants won’t have time to talk with each other since they have bigger worries.
I think that a sweet spot would be things people really care about. Nobody really has stylistic attachment to money, it’s really only that they need it or they die.
Something like a group of people who are all woodworkers, on the other hand, can prove very fruitful in terms of activity levels. Everyone in that group would likely appreciate good artistry shown in the craft, maybe inside jokes, maybe they’re looking to relive the pressure of their job by pursuing comradery.
As you can see, the commonality offers a lot in the way of possible “sweet spot” pursuits to exist.
I think that if we were to express community in terms of Maslowe’s Hierarchy of Needs, community is the common ways that people go about solving for their needs at every level.
I think that “passionate” communities are ones that revolve around the commonality in how people choose to try and fulfill their top-most needs, namely transcendence.
You can have communities centered around any desire really, and picking one to build around is a lot like picking a market to enter. In fact, I would argue that they are nearly the exact same process.
You see, choosing a good market to sell a product to, actually requires the same steps.
Choose something that people have a strong pursuit of, and make sure there are enough people with the same desires to get a critical mass going of sales / interactions.
And so, I posit, that if someone is willing to buy something, they are also willing to join a community around it.
“Oh but I don’t want to join a community around that $20 blender I bought off of amazon.”
True, but you might be willing to join a community centered around sub $50 gadget-finds that make household life more convenient.
With that said, I think we have reached an adequate definition of what communities are, and how they work. Now let’s move on to variable number 2.
…
The Platform
With that being said, we’ve reached a conclusion on what communities are. More specifically, we’ve reached an understanding of what ties them together. They are essentially vector / flow fields of desire pooling in given directions. More specifically, the
community itself, is meant to act as a flow field for the actor with a given momentum.
The intention is to more efficiently take someone from where they are currently, to where they are looking to go.
Now whether they actually accomplish that or not is a different story, but as far as the noble cause, I think this is the most apt description.
Now with that out of the way, the next matter is how. Specifically, how are communities logistically facilitated / enabled?
This might be something that we think to ourselves, well if the desire is strong enough then the “how” doesn’t matter right? “If there’s a will there’s a way” and all?
Consider this scenario. There is no internet.
Then we don’t get globalization, and we experience latency with expression of ideas. It thus becomes harder to pursue the endeavor than to do it independently, and subsequently that is what transpires.
So one could argue, then, that there exists a theoretical perfect community.
I would say that the equation for what makes a good community is the same as alex hormozi’s value equation.
Outcome x Perceived likelihood of achievement
—————————————————————
Time cost x Effort and sacrifice
Does the community reduce time to get goal?
Does the community provide “higher highs”?
Does the community have lots of people talking about a specific resource that got them results with absolute certainty?
Does the community have resources to make achieving the goal less painful? (certainty usually helps mitigate pain)
I think that if we use these four questions as a guide, we can work backwards and create a valuable resource that people use to accelerate their goals through various means.
This can be things like:
- Course on the fundamentals of how to achieve what I want
- Lots of other members to interact with (and therefore lots of experts to guide me)
- Discounts on popular services related to the desire
- Comprehensive list of all the services related to the desire that makes it easier
Now with that said, that is the theoretical ideal.
Now let’s discuss what actually exists in the world right now.
Here are all the platforms that exist off the top of my head / chatgpt
Twitter (now X)
TikTok
Snapchat
YouTube
Tumblr
Telegram
Discord
Quora
Medium
Clubhouse
BeReal
Signal
Mastodon
Threads (by Instagram)
Gab
Parler
Truth Social
Viber
Line
Meetup
VK (VKontakte)
Rumble
Substack
Nextdoor
DeviantArt
SoundCloud
Flickr
Mix (formerly StumbleUpon)
Vimeo
Steemit
Minds
DLive
Periscope (legacy, integrated into Twitter/X)
Podcast
ChatGPT Freewrite Continuation
With all of these platforms in mind, the next question we need to ask is: Which platforms are the most conducive to building and sustaining communities?
While there are numerous platforms available, not all of them are equally suited to fostering deep, active communities. As we’ve previously established, the strength of a community lies in how well it helps its members reach a common goal. Some platforms inherently support this better than others.
The Criteria for Choosing a Platform
Just as we applied a value equation to communities, we can apply a similar framework to evaluate the platforms themselves:
- Ease of Interaction: Does the platform make it easy for users to engage with one another? Can they quickly respond, share resources, and communicate in real time?
- Tools for Collaboration: Does the platform offer features that allow community members to collaborate effectively? These could include things like discussion threads, channels, group video calls, file sharing, and more.
- Scalability: Can the platform handle the growth of the community as it scales from tens to hundreds or even thousands of members without losing engagement?
- User Base: Does the platform already have a strong user base that aligns with the community’s target demographic? Is it a place where people naturally congregate for similar interests?
- Content Support: Does the platform support the types of content the community needs to thrive? Whether it’s video, images, text, or live conversations, the right platform will cater to these content types.
- Retention and Engagement: Does the platform encourage regular interaction? Does it use notifications, reminders, or other mechanisms to keep members engaged over time?
Platform Analysis
Now that we have a framework for evaluation, let’s assess some of the top platforms based on these criteria:
- Reddit: Ideal for communities with niche interests, Reddit excels at threaded discussions and anonymity, allowing people to dive deeply into topics. The upvote/downvote system ensures that the best content rises to the top, while subreddits allow for highly specific interest-based communities. However, it’s less suited to real-time interaction or multimedia-heavy communities.
- Discord: Built around real-time communication, Discord is excellent for communities that thrive on frequent, casual interaction. It offers voice channels, text channels, and even video chat, making it a robust tool for active, engaged communities. Its downside is that larger communities may struggle with organization, requiring strong moderation.
- Facebook Groups: A more traditional option, Facebook Groups benefit from the platform’s massive user base. It’s easy to get people to join a group, and the platform supports everything from live videos to polls. However, it’s not as focused on niche topics as Reddit or Discord and may suffer from lower organic engagement as Facebook prioritizes personal content in users’ feeds.
- Telegram: Popular for its privacy and large group sizes, Telegram is an excellent choice for communities that need a streamlined chat experience with additional bots and automation tools. It works well for communities that need to share resources quickly, but its linear chat structure can become overwhelming in large groups.
- LinkedIn: Best for professional communities, LinkedIn is structured around business and industry-related content. It’s ideal for career growth and networking-focused communities, but less useful for casual or hobbyist groups. It’s also not the best platform for real-time interaction or casual conversation.
- TikTok/Instagram: These platforms are more visual and can be excellent for building creative communities centered around art, design, fashion, or lifestyle. However, they tend to be better for follower-based audiences rather than interactive communities.
Choosing the Right Platform
Ultimately, the choice of platform depends heavily on the community’s goals. Are you fostering frequent, real-time interaction? Discord and Telegram may be your best bet. Are you building around niche knowledge-sharing? Reddit could be perfect. Do you need to tap into an already established professional network? LinkedIn offers that access.
In essence, choosing the right platform involves balancing the needs of the community with the platform’s strengths.
As a final note, it’s important to remember that communities are not just about the platform—they’re about the people. The platform is merely a tool that facilitates interactions, but the heart of any successful community lies in its members’ shared pursuits and passion. By understanding the dynamics of both the community and the platforms available, you can make informed decisions that lead to vibrant, active groups of like-minded individuals.
Now, let’s delve into how to successfully grow and manage these communities across the chosen platforms…
Back to me
I think I should take a look, a really deep look, into all of those social media platforms listed.
I know how to make money with Reddit.
I don’t know how to build a community. According to the podcast on community building by pat flynn, his staff member in charge says that in building online communities, it really does just take a long time. She says that their community is hosted by Circle.
Notes from podcast with her:
Your goal shouldn’t be engagement, your goal should be connection.
She says to run a community take about 7/10 effort minimum. If you don’t want to be there, why would your community want to be there?
She says that a community is one of the least passive things in the world. I think that’s okay, as long as we’re constantly growing the value of it and doing things to keep people coming back with events, and other exciting creative formats.
Community is not evergreen. But it is valuable. Takes time and love.
Big event for them is to have AMAs with Pat once a month. You have to make sure you’re there the entire time. Promises must be kept.
She’s doing networking events online with little breakout rooms to talk individually.
Lot of asking the community is required to build a good one.
Networking speed dating.
She builds out the calendar for the month, on a month-to-month basis.
They do something called COTM – Challenges of the month.
Fun rituals that their community can take part in.
Onboarding is key, it sets the tone for the rest of the relationship with the person.
How do we do it in a way where it isn’t overwhelming to them? How do we do it in a way where they don’t get overwhelmed with everything but can still find what they need.
She says that we should set up “guardrails” for them. A new member challenge. This is essentially a gamified tutorial on how to best use the community.
ChatGPT on other community platforms like Circle:
- Circle.so
- Discourse.org (apparently open source)???
- Mighty Networks
- Slack
- Facebook Groups
- Discord
- Bettermode
- Kajabi Communities
- Telegram
- Guild
