How Social Media is Evolving into Online Communities

How Social Media is Evolving into Online Communities – Humans are social animals. When social media became one of the biggest causes of loneliness becoming an epidemic, what we call it didn’t live up to its name. Companies that own these platforms usually get a bad reputation for manipulating algorithms to favour profit. However, the changes in how it works are finally turning 360°. From the bottomless scrolling of Facebook, and the explosion of vloggers on YouTube to the rise of influencers on TikTok, how we discover education and entertainment online is no longer solely based on who we follow. It is now based on the interest graph that profiles us based on our likes and lets us find new posts and videos that we may like based on our online history.

Thanks to recent innovations, these platforms know us very well. Every swipe, every click, every gesture and even our facial expression when we watch something. This enables platforms to build a massive database that they can use as a sample size in making archetypes. Now these archetypes will have common denominators that are worth the discussion and interactions. Transformers fans? Treehouse builders? Say less. You will be able to find a community with threads of information online regardless of the topics. This is why a Reddit or Quora thread appears when you search for something. Aside from the partnership between Google and Reddit, these tech giants know that people trust real people. And they will always look for reviews online first before they buy or try something.

So what’s the point of all of this? If you are an individual who is trying to make sense of your screen time, look for your community. If you are a business owner trying to strengthen customer loyalty, nurture your 1,000 raving fans—you can only build it through a community. Tribalism is indeed bad for our society but let’s face it, herd mentality is deeply ingrained in mankind. People who come together for a common interest and goal will fight as one. So this is also a caveat to echo chambers. Regular discussion with your community is needed if you want to grow because it will give you a continuous feedback loop. However, keep an eye out for deeply biased takes. If it’s always lopsided for your group, be the devil’s advocate and call out the rationale.

Social Media or rather ‘Socials’ is not just the way it used to be. It will be an exciting journey for humans with a second life on the internet as artificial intelligence even makes the technology progress faster. Stick with your community and find ways to prosper so that you will have people on your side as we all face the future forward. We make sure to keep our partners in one intact community together with their teams offshore. Learn more about how we do it by contacting us on this page or booking a free consultation with our experts through this link.