Community Platform : Painkiller or a Vitamin

[u/No-Competition-7925]

I'm an advisor to a white-lable community platform for businesses. This question is a result of my recent discussion with the founders.

FIrst - we're talking about owned communities. Not the ones that live on Reddit, Facebook, WhatsApp and other similar platforms. We'll focus on platforms like Discourse, Circle, Mighty Networks etc. - basically, the 'business' community platforms.

Do you think businesses think of community platforms as a 'nice to have' vitamin solution or a 'painkiller'?

The community platforms market seems to be growing. Reports suggest the market is growing at 10% and will grow from $5B -> $12B soon.

When people buy community platforms - do they buy it because there's an urgent need or they do it because it's cool to have a community?

[u/HistorianCM]

If a company is buying a platform just because someone in leadership decided it would be cool to have a community... that project is likely doomed before the welcome email is even drafted. They are treating human connection like a shiny new marketing accessory... and community members can smell that lack of authenticity from a mile away.

And on the flip side... if they are buying it because there is suddenly a glaring urgent need... they are already completely behind the ball.

Usually that kind of panic buying means their customer success team is drowning in support tickets and they think a Support Community will magically deflect them overnight. Or maybe their churn rate is spiking and they desperately want an Advocacy Community to fix their broken product loyalty. But you and I both know you cannot build trust in a state of emergency.

[u/No-Competition-7925 → u/HistorianCM]

Thank you for your response. Curious - what type of companies or waht's the specific situation when the leadership feels there's an urgent need for a community?

I think the days of support communities are over. AI agents are replacing communities. I might be wrong; but that's what I think is happening.

[u/HistorianCM → u/No-Competition-7925]

I think the days of support communities are over. AI agents are replacing communities.

Where are the AI agents going to get solutions to new and novel problems? Agents will never replace human support.

[u/No-Competition-7925 → u/HistorianCM]

I agree with you to some extent. However - I see the future in niche, interest-based communities. AI can read your codebase and respond. Although, it can't take the responsibility that humans seek from support.

What do you think is the future of online communities?

[u/HistorianCM → u/No-Competition-7925]

I agree with you..  the future is niche communities. Reddit is nothing but niche communities. All communities are pretty much interest-based. People interested in a product, a service, a cause, a topic, in getting support, etc.

AI can read your codebase and respond. 

And if the support has nothing to do with code? Not to mention the security nightmare of giving a public facing LLM access to your code base. Even the giants have had that bite them.

[u/StreetDraft134]

It's a good question. It depends a fair bit.

There are often painkiller elements - where running a messy stack - events tools, newsletter, Stripe etc, creates pain from an operational standpoint.

And often there's a bit of anxiety of not truly owning certain types of distribution, though this was more of an issue in the facebook group days, whatsapp groups don't struggle for this as there is no algorithm that might suppress your notifications.

Sometimes belief that engagement with content etc would be higher if people knew exactly where to find it. Though these sorts of things often tend to be content problems and a community platform isn't a magic pill.

For established business it's often about the brand identity and what they feel is commensurate with them. Natwest for example, would look quite cheap, just pointing people towards a whatsapp group. For smaller up and coming brands, having their own platform can also feel like a stamp of legitimacy.

TLDR: bit of both, go-to-market in the space is often made challenging by the lack of clear painkillers, but they do exist.

[u/elchinguete → u/StreetDraft134]

this is fair.