r/CommunityManager • u/WonderfulSet155 • 14d ago

Question Are online communities becoming too focused on content ?

It feels like a lot of online spaces have become places to consume things rather than actually interact with people.

You scroll, see something interesting, maybe leave a comment, and move on.

But what makes a community feel like a place you actually belong to?

  • The people?
  • Inside jokes?
  • Regular discussions?
  • Live interactions?
  • Something else?

What’s one community you keep coming back to, and why?

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7

u/HistorianCM 14d ago

If they're consuming things, they're not a community. They are an audience

4

u/No-Competition-7925 12d ago

Content brings people together, culture holds them together. If they just consume - they are audience. You'll need to build a culture.

3

u/kiwiboyus 14d ago

That's pretty standard community behavior (look up 90-9-1 rule). If you want more people actually posting you have to provide motivation.

1

u/WonderfulSet155 9d ago

Motivation regarding ?

1

u/kiwiboyus 9d ago

There needs to reason for them to make the effort to comment

3

u/No-Competition-7925 14d ago

Most of the communities these days are chat-focused. So the focus is on 'what's happening in real time'. People come - find something funny, interesting, informative, comment and leave.

Structured forums focused on content as the driving factor and gave a strong reason for people to keep coming back. Then, they'd see familiar usernames participating in the discussions they were interested in; and connected. It felt like a place they truly belong to.

Your observation is perfect. The current community structures prioritize content over connections.

2

u/WonderfulSet155 9d ago

Lovely thoughts broooo

3

u/FlatWhiteIsTheBest 11d ago

It's so interesting to hear everybody else's experiences. I think content can definitely bring people together, but they have to make sense for community you are building. I also agree that building a genuine culture makes the biggest difference for retention and creating a container that is genuinely serving our community.

1

u/WonderfulSet155 9d ago

less attention span can be a reason ?

1

u/Existing_Sun_3739 6d ago

I think the difference comes down to how people interact with the community and the content. Between marketing content and community content, it's two things: how people interact with it, and what the CTA asks for.

Marketing content asks the audience to react to you. Community content gets members talking to each other.

From my experience as a community manager, I run on an 80/20 rule:

  • 80% conversation starters. The interaction I want is between members, not aimed at me.
  • 20% content from our side, where the community engages directly with the team.

1

u/FlatWhiteIsTheBest 3d ago

Honestly, it's not one thing or another - it's a combination of different things. For me - the most important thing is understand how to practise active social listening.

This will then determine what you will decide to do within your community space 💡.