Social Archives

Love this!

But–I find many companies/brands/creators profess to have community, when they really just have customers or followers.

To have a truly defensible community, I believe the following need to be present: high intentionality, P2P interactions, & UGC content. https://t.co/5ynwxyLOFy

— Li Jin (@ljin18) December 19, 2019

Building a community can indeed provide a moat. But–I find many companies/brands/creators profess to have community, when they really just have customers or followers.

To have a truly defensible community, I believe the following need to be present: high intentionality, P2P interactions, & UGC content.

Hallmarks of “real” community:

1) Intentionality: Members seek out the community as a destination, not just as part of a broader platform’s feed

2) P2P interactions: Strong engagement and ties between members

3) UGC content: Members contribute content vs. just engaging w/ what’s broadcasted to them

More thoughts on community:

As consumers desire greater control over how they spend their attention, an emerging biz model will be paying for ongoing access to *people*–or what I’ll call “Community-as-a-Service.”

Thread 👇

— Li Jin (@ljin18) October 23, 2019

In the next few years, we'll see more large communities moving off major social platforms where they originated + setting up their own independent properties, with built-in direct monetization models.
This is a fascinating example of the Passion Economy at work. Thread 👇

— Li Jin (@ljin18) October 18, 2019

I like this article by Sam Lessin on the future of social, but think there’s a big omission. Namely, one of the major opportunities in social is to first focus on helping creators monetize and own their audiences, then layering in social elements on top.

I like this article by Sam Lessin on the future of social, but think there’s a big omission.
Namely, one of the major opportunities in social is to first focus on helping creators monetize and own their audiences, then layering in social elements on top. https://t.co/q321qmgVT8

— Li Jin (@ljin18) December 2, 2019

Companies here may not look like social products at first, but evolve in that direction. Take Substack, for instance: first launched as a paid newsletter tool, then added community features so that readers can engage with the writer & with each other: https://on.substack.com/p/new-on-substack-build-your-community

Creators are the ones that possess user attention & trust, and will be the central players for the next wave of social.