Intimacy, trust, and friendship - On thriving in smaller community spaces

Social media has always been disrupted. However, since the fragmentation of X (formerly Twitter), loads of people found themselves signing up to different social networks as the people they followed got spread across different platforms. It was hard and almost impossible to keep up with everything.

Once Elon Musk took over Twitter and suddenly it became one of the darkest places on the internet, I decided to leave the platform behind. Not a single cell in my body agrees with Musk's political interests, the way he treated employees, or what he did to the platform. I was fascinated, and I still am, when I see how many people (especially in the journalism and design field, since I followed a lot of people there) stayed on the platform, actively supporting Musk and all his actions. It was the easiest decision ever to leave Twitter behind and check out new platforms. I signed up for a Mastodon account already some years ago, but never actively used the platform. As I decided to leave Twitter, it felt like the right time to join a new social community.

The ever-growing desire for smaller communities

Because of the Twitter defragmentation, Mastodon became increasingly popular and loads of users joined the platform. Since you have to choose a server first in order to register your account (I decided to go for mastodon.design), a lot of people found themselves in small, yet active and vibrant communities focused on specific interests and topics. When I joined mastodon.design, there were just a around 100 users, and an even smaller number of active ones. Browsing the local timeline of that server felt like a small and private community. While mastodon.design grew significantly over the last couple of years, it still feels like such a private community. There is something special about it.

I was not the only one realizing that. Based on my experience and research a lot of people had a strong desire for connection and dedicated online communities, after the growing backlash against tradition social media. Users were looking for intimacy, trust, and friendship. Once they found that, users increasingly started to thrive in smaller community spaces.

The idea of those smaller community spaces is not new. Since years, people have been creating community spaces on Slack or Discord. Connecting with like-minded community members in small spaces with increased privacy allows for more meaningful conversations. While traditional social media platforms often get flooded with bot accounts which then hijack those conversations, it takes a bit more to join in on such a community, which helps to filter out the bots, and keep the negativity out of the door.

Building on meaningful connections and conversations

After millions of users left Twitter, alternative social platforms and communities saw a huge spike in new users. They spread across all those platforms. The chances are high that while doing that, they lost some of their followers and connections. However, the smaller and more private platforms and communities allowed to create new connections, and as those communities usually got built around a certain interest or topic, chances are high that it created even more meaningful connections. Those meaningful connections in smaller community spaces can lead to deeper levels of intimacy, trust, and friendship. As users engage with like-minded individuals, they can find a sense of belonging and support that is often lacking in larger, more impersonal social media platforms. This shift towards more intimate online communities reflects a growing desire for genuine human interaction and a rejection of the superficial nature of traditional social media.

I joined such smaller community spaces too. My impression was, that in smaller communities, users are more likely to actively participate and engage with each other, as there are fewer distractions and less noise compared to the endless feeds of traditional social media. Obviously, to make the most out of such a community space, it needs community managers who facilitate meaningful discussions and interactions, foster a sense of belonging and shared purpose among members, moderate content and conversations to maintain a positive, constructive tone, and cultivate a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration within the community. When I started the Creativerly Community, I failed at almost all of those things. Although, a couple of Creativerly readers joined the community, I did not manage to keep the discussions and conversations going, and suddenly it became a pretty quiet place. However, I want to change that, since I am still striving for a small, cozy, and private community of fellow creative minds to freely discuss apps, software, design, creativity, writing, side-projects, and more. If you want to be part of the resurrection of Creativerly Community, you can join via the Creativerly website.

Why smaller, more private communities thrive

I am not against the idea of large social media platforms in general. They are still playing an incredible important role when it comes to broadcasting information. No matter if you need to market your new product, if you are writing a blog or newsletter, or are part of a news outlet, the big players when it comes to social networks are providing the platform and the tools to potentially reach millions of people (although, algorithms usually work against that idea). However, the insightful, meaningful, deep, focused, and mesmerized conversations are no longer happening on X, Facebook, Instagram, or Threads, they are happening in small, private, and thriving community spaces.

Till next time! 👋‌‌‌‌

Support: Do you have a friend who is looking for inspiration, news about design, and useful tools and apps? Forward this newsletter to a friend or simply share this issue and show some support. You can also show some love by simply clicking the button down below and keep this newsletter a sustainable side-project by buying me a coffee. ☕️ 🥰