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Two thoughts as someone who is also building online community software: - I think there should be ways for community creators to monetize directly through Redd
by shafyy 8y ago
Two thoughts as someone who is also building online community software:
- I think there should be ways for community creators to monetize directly through Reddit. For example, allow community creators to add a donation/subscription button for really small amounts (e.g. 1$/month).
- There is a growing opportunity in online chat communities. I guess that's why they also started experimenting with chat. There is a large but non-obvious difference between a forum and a chatroom, and as you might know from Slack vs. email, it's a significantly different vibe.
- johnmarcus 8y agoCheckout steemit.com.
- shafyy 8y agoThat's a great idea!
- CM30 8y agoDiscord is basically the latter, aka Reddit for chat rooms/IRC equivalents. Slack is pretty close to that idea too. So if Reddit got into that market, there'd be real tough competition, even before taking the decentralised/federated stuff into account.
- shafyy 8y agoNo, it's not. Discord is made for gaming. If you would build a software for communities (for discussion in general), then you would add different features that don't make sense for Slack or Discord. It's a huge market with a lot of distinct use cases, and therefore can support a lot of similar players that focus on different use cases.
- deyan 8y agoYou seem knowledgable about the space. Mind sharing examples of such features, or where you feel Discord is lacking?
- shafyy 8y agoSure. My company is focussing on communities that revolve around discussion and learning (mostly targeting teens and young adults). Some features we are working on are specific tools like a whiteboard that helps you quickly draw something to better explain. Or a library of common definitions (e.g., formulas for math, definitions for CS) that take the friction out of helping others. Furthermore, with our target group gamification and providing incentives to a meaningful discussion is important, so we're working on avatars and points that you can collect and use. More general communities could use features such as: - Monetization directly in the software vs. sending users to a signup and payment form (better UX, higher conversion rate) - Discoverability (e.g., a search function similar to Reddit) - Better onboarding for communities: For some communities, it makes sense not to be public, but to require a short application (for whatever reason) - currently community creators much build a separate website and send users there, etc. This would be much better if it existed natively. - More focus on conversations/discussions instead of productivity tools Just to mention a few. Of course, for Slack and Discord, it doesn't make sense to implement these features because it would dilute the whole product.
- gowld 8y agoDiscord and Slack don't have discoverability. You have to know where are you going before you join a conversation.
- remir 8y agoAnother thing they could do is find a way for people to sell their original content and take a small % of the sale. For example, a redditor could sell print art, furniture, toys, books, etc... Basically like Etsy.