Issue No. 103: What is Community Anyway?

In business, community can be a cheat code. And in fitness circles, it’s the holy grail.

Easier said than done, community members are often confused with followers, users, subscribers, and customers. While the latter are passive and transient, the former are passionately engaged in a give-and-take with the brand and other members of the community.

Sweating together offers benefits that go beyond socializing. Multiple studies point to the power of community as it relates to fitness.

Precipitated by declining participation in civic organizations and increased distrust of institutions, community is increasingly something we choose. And, with the entire [digital] world at our fingertips, place is no longer a limiting factor. As a result, online communities are thriving.

For most of human history, the notion of community was tied to a physical location.