Collection
The Future of Community: Building & Sustaining

We all need community. But technology and the world around us have changed. This collection is intended to explore this question. In my own community building, I aim to ground timeless concepts with the shifting grounds we live to shape ways of life that integrate us together.

"On the flipside, to the extent that v2 social networking allows people to be themselves in all the different ways they wish to be, the more likely it is they become close to people who see other parts of the world in ways that differ from their own. Critically, though, unlike Facebook or Twitter, that exposure happens in an environment of trust that encourages understanding, not posturing.

This has been the case for me: I am in private groups with plenty of folks that I disagree with about a whole host of things, but because we share a common interest, and are ok being trusted friends on that vector, I have learned a lot about why they believe what they believe about a bunch of issues. I think it helps my analysis, and I think it makes me a better citizen. That certainly isn’t our expectation of social media today, but that is because we are stuck on v1."

"Not only do you need to be an entrepreneur, you need to be a great community manager."

“The latter is where I think things are returning. As much as I don’t like the walled nature of chatrooms, that’s where the people are. Teenagers starting their internet journey aren’t making Twitter accounts, they’re making Discord accounts. Popular new software projects have a Discord server, and sometimes it’s the only social presence they have. Forums and threads are coming back, with Discord and Element adding similar features.”

“the best way to start a successful community, it would be to build the one you need yourself.”

"Virtue is I think what's going to be missing from a secular attempt to replicate [community] that instead it gets replaced with best practices... that doesn't succeed in passing on a dedication to community... I call it infertile virtue... The only thing that makes that shared higher purpose hold up is it actually being a higher cause."

"An online world in which it’s hard to be a superstar, but easier to find a real sense of community, sounds like a good tradeoff to me." - Cal Newport

"We don't have the kind of catechisms for our time that are required. I'm so excited bout the future of how Christian leader and communicators, and Christian communities can reimagine this role of being a persuasive community." - David Kinnaman