Online Niche Communities
by sari and · updated 3mo ago
Online Niche Communities
by sari and · updated 3mo ago
something I try to keep in mind when writing about online communities is that they’re (usually) filled with real, complex people. They’re not just weird introverts or shut-ins or people trying to escape reality.
Keely Adler added 5mo ago
For every new subway ad featuring an online pharmacy and a nice monstera plant, there was a new pop-up skate shop soaking up the runoff of Supreme teens. HSWLD on Delancey, a dozen others lost to memory… Online, I browsed IJJI and v.soon and Anti-Social Social Club on my friend’s Tiny Clothing Stores Are.na channel, this selection a mere trickle of
... See moreKeely Adler added 5mo ago
As a consumer, you subscribe to one vision or another: what’s your version of hiking out doors? What type of vibe are you about? Purist? Gorpy? High intensity? Meditative? But in all cases, the branded subculture itself is the main thing, while the role of physical goods is diminished. Their job is not to drive value, but to add another layer of de
... See moreKeely Adler added 5mo ago
all of today’s so-called subcultures are being routed along the same paths, like a Waze-induced traffic jam clogging the streets of a quiet subdivision
Keely Adler added 5mo ago
One major benefit of subcultures is that they open up necessary space when the mainstream becomes too crowded. Now, thanks to the internet, everything is supposedly a subculture—the mainstream has supposedly broken into a thousand fragments. One would assume this creates more room for everyone to spread out, literally and figuratively, but even tha
... See moreKeely Adler added 5mo ago
what Yancey Strickler calls Dark Forests . According to him these are “spaces where depressurized conversation is possible because of their non-indexed, non-optimized, and non-gamified environments”.
Keely Adler added 5mo ago
both terms describe communities that withdraw themselves from participation in the power laws of social platforms. According to New Models’ Carly Busta, and Joshua Citarella, it is through this withdrawal that these new subcultures find the space to develop shared interests and build their collective lore.
Keely Adler added 5mo ago
Where Dark Forests are characterised by their intentional withdrawal from social media, the Cozyweb is non-indexable because of a lacking interconnection between material, creating unintentionally disconnected islands populated by isolated communities.
Keely Adler added 5mo ago
Stuart Evans added 1y ago