Trends in Online Community Tools

The social media landscape is evolving rapidly, and I'm seeing something fascinating: the fusion of digital and physical worlds. Here's what you need to know: The big insight: While giants like Meta and ByteDance dominate the mainstream, the real innovation is happening in "IRL to URL" and vice versa platforms that bridge online and offline experiences. Here's what's driving the next wave of social apps: 🤝 IRL to URL Revolution - Partiful is exploding (3M MAU, $400M valuation in Series B) - Gen Z is rejecting passive social media for active connection - New platforms focus on maintaining relationships post-meetup - Cross-generational appeal: From teens to 60+ year-olds 🎯 Intentional Connection - Moving beyond content consumption to real relationships - Focus on effort and thoughtfulness in digital interactions - AI-powered tools helping maintain authentic connections - Emphasis on small gestures: shared memes, dinner plans, experiences 👨🎤 Creator Economy Integration - Substack Notes enables writers to build intimate communities - New social apps prioritizing creator-first features - Direct creator-to-community connections becoming standard 🔐 Platform Evolution - Mastodon (10M users) and Bluesky leading decentralization - BeReal championing authenticity - Discord (150M MAU) proving community-first works - Emerging platforms focusing on relationship maintenance 💰 Business Model Innovation - High retention trumping immediate monetization - Freemium + premium features working well - TikTok's commerce integration success (1.69B MAU) - Subscription models thriving across platforms The numbers tell the story: - Instagram: 2B MAU - TikTok: 1.69B MAU - LinkedIn: 930M MAU - Partiful: 3M MAU (and growing fast) Key prediction: The next wave of successful social platforms won't just connect people online OR offline – they'll excel at nurturing relationships across both spaces, making digital interaction feel as natural as meeting for coffee. What I'm watching: - AI tools for relationship maintenance - Cross-platform integration - Intentional social features - Community-building tools - Digital-physical experience fusion - Post-meetup engagement solutions Whether you're building, investing, or marketing, understanding this shift is crucial. The future isn't about choosing between digital or physical connection – it's about seamlessly blending both. Thoughts? How are you seeing the IRL to URL evolution play out in your network? #SocialMedia #Community #FutureOfSocial #DigitalTrends #StartupOpportunities #TechTrends (Based on comprehensive market research and emerging social trends)

Do enterprise communities face a search traffic problem? The world of online communities is shifting. We've seen more disruption in the last year or two than in the previous decade. Take Stack Overflow as an example. Their traffic dropped by almost 50% in just a few years. Why? It’s not just about competition—it’s about AI, changing search behaviors, and evolving user expectations. Here’s what I’m noticing: 👉 Search trends are reshaping community visibility. When users search for answers, they’re met with AI-generated summaries, knowledge base articles, and video content. Reddit and third-party forums often outrank official communities. 👉 Reddit is becoming a community powerhouse. Even if a brand doesn’t host its own community, there’s likely a subreddit discussing it. Brands that ignore this risk losing relevance in conversations that matter. 👉 Video content is climbing the ranks. Search engines are prioritizing video answers. If your brand isn’t engaging with video, you might already be behind. So, what’s the takeaway? 📌 Communities can no longer exist in silos. We can’t expect users to come to us for answers or land on our homepage when they search for questions. Increasingly this traffic is going to other channels—Reddit, YouTube, or third-party forums. And we need to be there too. 📌 Do you know how well your community is impacted by search? Understanding where your community appears in search results is critical. If you’re not on the first page for most queries, you probably have a problem. 📌 Adaptation is key. Hosted communities won’t die, but they’ll be one piece of a much bigger puzzle. It’s time to think beyond our platforms and meet our audiences where they already are.

AI, hybrid communities, and gamification—what’s actually shaping the future of community building? 🍔 I just watched Grazitti Interactive's new video "Community Trends 2025: Expert Insights on AI & Engagement" where Brian Oblinger, Todd Nilson, Michel Da Silva, and shaveta sharma shared their thoughts on where community is headed. A few takeaways stood out: 🍔 AI is here—but we’re still figuring it out. AI is already automating moderation, sentiment analysis, and content recommendations, but as Brian Oblinger pointed out, many companies are waiting for AI-powered tools to become more productized before fully adopting them. The key? Experiment, but stay strategic. 🍔 Hybrid & niche communities are the future. As Todd Nelson shared, we’re seeing a shift toward smaller, purpose-driven communities that blend online and offline interactions. Successful communities will need to deliver personalized, high-value experiences to stay relevant. 🍔 Gamification works—but only if it’s done right. Michel Da Silva emphasized that gamification should encourage meaningful engagement—not just drive vanity metrics. Rewarding quality contributions over sheer volume helps build stronger communities. 🍔 Trust, transparency, and moderation matter more than ever. AI-generated content is on the rise, but community leaders must set clear ethical guidelines for how AI is used. The balance between automation and human connection will define the next era of community. The discussion leaned heavily into an older definition of what community is (mostly forums). I fundamentally disagree with that perspective, but these folks are experts and there are definitely some interesting nuggets and takeaways, especially if you anchor your community in the forum experience. Worth a watch! So, where do you see community headed in 2025? 🍔 https://lnkd.in/gyScGxpH

The biggest thing holding back community products today is how heavy weight they are. Slack, Discord, Circle, etc. all require you to make an account, download an app, sign in, etc. simply to interact with others. This leads to a feelong of being “siloed”. The thing is, communities we’re a part of are far more fluid than this. We follow newsletters, connect in alumni networks, and check out events. These don’t belong in a walled off space. We should be able to interact with the people in the communities we’re apart of without leaving the channels we use every day. I’m talking about email, dms, and text messages. Light weight community tools that facilitate these interactions, in spaces we already spend time, are the next wave of community products. This is one of the main reasons we built Intros AI to be platformless. It makes it so much more seamless to facilitate interactions when you don’t need to create new habits.