Clubhouse and the Future of Cult-Driven Social Platforms

But taken a step further, I believe the future consumer companies won’t just be open platforms. They will be inclusive groups with a deep shared ideology. They will be cults.

The potential to build community-curated knowledge networks remains largely untapped. There are reasons to be optimistic; the economic feasibility of paid communities, a renewed interest in curation, a slow move away from big social, and an improved understanding of platform incentives. All combined, this will lead to communities that are more sust... See more

Success here will come down to implementation details. The incentive structure, funding sources, size, goals, moderation approach, and community management philosophy of these networks will determine their long term viability as both businesses and communities. Whether coming at it from the angle of social media, brand, or content creator, building... See more

what purists miss in their devotion to the collective is that all communities start with an individual creator. After all, the yield farming token YFI is the brainchild of Andre Cronje, the founder of Yearn Finance; FWB was hatched by Cooper Turley, who leads crypto strategy at Audius, and Brud CEO Trevor McFedries, the co-creator behind the digita... See more

Kelly’s vision depends on an evolution of the Internet in which the vast tangle of possible one-on-one connections partition into countless small cliques—each one a fandom or a mini community revelling in the discovery of others who share their quirks. Instead, the social-media giants effectively rerouted these connections through a small number of... See more