(2019-02-21) Kaden: Come For An Action, Stay For The Community

Rebecca Kaden (of USV): Come for an Action, Stay for the Community. If the last decade has been a time of digital abundance--more followers, more “friends,” more apps--2019 looks to be the year of paring down

But our desire to find community and connection, and to leverage technology to do so in more effective and efficient ways, hasn’t changed. As a result, the coming years will likely be a time of renewed opportunity in new forms of social systems, the kind that has been difficult to come by during the major platforms’ ascension and dominance.

This splintering seems to be happening for two central reasons:

  • Privacy and security
  • Users are no longer getting what they want (or as much of it.)

The next wave of social systems will likely emphasize breadth and depth differently than the last--and may not look much like social networks at all.

it may be that with the next, the community is what keeps users long term engaged but is formed around another intent. Come for an action, stay for the community.

These platforms are likely to have four core things in common:

  • Users share a common interest or objective (beyond connectivity.)
  • Users have skin in the game--they’ve in some way transacted or are on path to transact (ecommerce). Duolingo’s users connect in Facebook groups organized by the specific language they are learning to get extra practice, ask for help around tricky language rules, and share jokes. (Social Warrens)
  • Users in the best communities go through a transition from the specific to the broad
  • Multimodal business models (2018-12-07-ChanOutgrowingAdvertisingMultimodalBusinessModelsAsAProductStrategy)

I can see brands creating community spaces. But is this a basis for Connection (Social Capital )?


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