Are Online Communities Worth Your Time?

In the past week, I asked over a dozen people their experiences with online groups.

Eight of them answered.

Here are their words organized into 4 general perspectives about online communities.

1.Most Online Groups Aren't Worth it, or Don’t Meet Expectations

One of the most common sentiments I saw was that groups don't meet expectations, aren't worth engaging with, and usually do not prove themselves worthy of our time.

Brandon Beck Head of Growth at Mint Measure connected it to the motivations we all have as prospective members:

”I'm resigned from joining a group. The only group I'd consider joining is people who are in the same very specific niche as me.”

This speaks to a sense of superficiality that almost every respondent addressed.

These groups call themselves communities, but rarely live up to the definition of that term.

MeMe Sharp Machado , Inbound Marketing Strategist at Modern Driven Media expressed this very succinctly:

“I think the online aspect makes it hard for it to really feel like a ‘community’.“

The term is thrown around by online groups, to the point of diluting its meaning. It’s possible even the most beloved online groups don’t really fit the bill.

Content Marketer Sijdah Hussain put it in a very similar way:

"I haven't really found any group to be helpful when it comes to community”

2. There are Worthwhile Groups Online if You Look Hard Enough

The positive things I heard were about groups that had lower head counts and higher engagement.

Specifically, it seems we all look for groups in which the engagement comes from the members, and not the group's founders.

In-person meetups and accountability groups were praised as having the sought-after qualities of community.

Reddit and Twitter groups were both cited as favorable more times than other online platforms.

Jeff Stambovsky , a man I barely know, was very direct about the communities he sees as valuable:

“Everybody hates Twitter, but that’s how organic groups get established. I don’t hate Twitter, I think it’s the best thing on the internet.“

Rachael H. , Social Content & Engagement Coordinator at MDM had positive things to say about several communities, from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook.

She described several facebook groups and Discord servers that she liked, and of twitter communities.

About the Twitter communities she had joined, Rachael said:

“a mix of hobbyist groups and miscellaneous informative groups; overall positive experience, very helpful.”

Shana Steigerwalt , CEO at Modern Driven Media had a similar perspective here:

“The ones that I am most engaged with are super focused and have active users posting (not just the owners of the group).”

3.Most Groups are Either High Engagement and Filled With Sales and Spam, or Low Engagement and do Not Provide Value.

The dynamics of size, engagement, and value seem to create a very narrow window in which groups can be seen favorably.

Sam Stein of Malomo said:

“ (I joined) a saas sales group I guess (bravado) and that’s all about vetting different jobs and how your job is. And sharing advice for ppl on the same career.“

A group may start out great, and slowly grow and compromise with promotions etc.

Brandon Beck also had something to say about this:

"Quickly infiltrated by salespeople, low engagement, with 3% of people taking up all the air and being the only ones that engage."

4.Smaller Groups Have Some Community Qualities That are Rarely Found in Larger Groups.

This was reflected in several answers as well. This comes back to the idea that "online community" is a conflict of terms.

?? Cody J. , Founder of Dium said:

“I do like meeting up with a smaller group of professionals to hash out problems in a serious manner.”

And anecdotally, I know that in-person meetups tend to feel more like a community than purely online groups.

Bonus: Nobody Likes Linkedin

Of all the good things said, Linkedin groups were not mentioned once.

They were cited multiple times as useless, and either low engagement, or impossible to keep up with in any coherent sense.

I can't help but agree.

Though, as a general principle, it seems like larger online groups usually can't hold a candle to in-person meetups, and smaller communities.

How to Get Great Comments From Your Linkedin Group

Just text them

Keep in mind, for my little survey here, I messaged people personally.

The responses I got were nothing short of eye-opening.

Not just the answers, but how in depth they were.

I could never write a Linkedin post that got these stellar viewpoints as comments.

What's to be Done About Awful Online Groups?

I am left with the feeling something is missing from online "communities", that seems to only take place in DMs or very small group spaces, and maybe 1 in 100 of the larger groups out there.

People seem to want real discussion, problem solving, accountability and mentorship from these communities, but few of us seem to find those qualities.

Could online platforms facilitate the creation of these small, more valuable communities?

If so, how?