fastcompany.com

As the popularity of the Community platform grows, one of its most significant challenges is maintaining the very thing that makes it attractive to both stars and fans in the first place: How do you create a personalized experience for 50,000 text contacts? Or five million?

For fans who sign up to interact with their favorite celebs, Community’s pitch is that—unlike every other social platform—it’s not an advertising-based business model. The only brands on it are the celebrities and artists themselves. Because it’s not ad-supported, Oseary says that the information you give Community at sign-up will never be sold or ... See more

Around that time, Peltier realized a couple of things. One, it made more sense to tap into existing user behavior rather than trying to create a new means of interaction, and two, his idea could be bigger than just serving musical artists.

The appeal, as Washington hinted at, is control. After a decade of being at the mercy of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat—which own the data, the algorithm, and ultimately that direct line of communication to the audience—stars finally aren’t willing to suffer having these apps restrict access to their fans. “We’re seeing pages get as lit... See more