The Era of Participatory Social

Sarah Tavel says she’s looking particularly closely at what she calls "Participatory Social" (e.g. Robolox, Fortnight, Discord) — platforms where communities and their members actually interact with one another, as opposed to Facebook where the model is based on content consumption.

Our research makes one thing clear: power is shifting back to the consumer (the fediverse signals this). Consumers crave community, but on their own terms — seeking deeper, more meaningful connections with those who truly matter (something we identified in 2014). Authenticity is at the heart of it all, supported by a foundation of safety and securi... See more

Social networking as we know it relies on content consumed in the past tense. Photos, videos, tweets, are all a part of our lives that are captured first and then shared or consumed by others afterwards. Gaming, on the other hand, is inherently a real-time social experience, whether it is with friends playing together online or streamers broadcasti... See more