Yet while the appetite for online communities grows, the accompanying management toolkit still largely misses the mark.

We’d also like to see more innovation and support for various monetization mechanisms for communities; that could include charging to unlock premium channels, tipping creators of posts (similar to Reddit), the ability to donate or leave a contribution for live events, etc.

Knowledge hub – Community knowledge hubs can house any type of content that’s value-additive to members, including relevant resources, FAQ, top posts, PDFs and links. Given the chat-based nature of many community platforms, the “best-of” content is often drowned out by more recent posts. We believe such a knowledge hub should be baked into the... See more

Probably the most popular by number of installations is the VBB open source software (Virtual Bulletin Board)

Attendance/participation at events

Engagement over time

Payments and built-in monetization models – Just as ads have become the predominant monetization model for social platforms, we believe member subscriptions are promising for communities. Because people are more likely to consume a product when they pay for it, subscriptions can incentivize engagement.

Member directory – Typically, Slack or Discord communities have an #Intros channel for members to introduce themselves. But these posts are ordered chronologically, and the volume of posts rapidly becomes overwhelming as communities grow. A turnkey directory product that aggregates and showcases member information and interests in a centralized... See more

Lapsed members or those who are at risk for churning