The Future is Social: Trends and Opportunities for Community Builders

TOP TRENDS IN CYBERTECH TO LOOK FOR

I remember a good friend giving me a pair of virtual reality goggles once — expensive ones, too. She gave them to me because she didn’t know what to do with them. It felt like I was holding a piece of an alien ship and had no idea how to use it, only that one day I would. Business is about strategy and intentionality. Once you have fully embraced the technologies that are already mainstream, the next pressing question is, “How do I position myself for the coming technological revolutions?” 

The next wave of web revolutions (let’s call it Web3) is fast approaching and we are all going to get wet sooner or later. The refreshing truth, though, is that social entrepreneurship is the most exciting place to be standing for this wave. So let’s dive in.

To fully understand Web3, we need to understand the problems it addresses by looking at the history of the Web.

• Web1 (1990s): The foundation was laid by making academic research and email publicly accessible. The web’s potential for societal transformation was hinted at, but the concentration of control raised concerns about inclusivity and equitable access. 
• Web2 (2000s): The focus shifted to user-generated content and social connection with the emergence of social media platforms. The combination of positive social feedback cues and the personal investment of time and creativity led to users’ sense of community and belonging gradually migrating to these online spaces. The democratisation of content creation also welcomed new challenges for managing information and meaningful interactions amidst the vast sea of user-generated content.
• Mobile Computing (2010s): The rise of mobile computing expanded the internet’s user base and destroyed the final lifestyle barriers that separated the real world from the virtual world.

   

These trends were shadowed by tech addictions, security and privacy concerns, social divisions, mistrust, and echo chambers. Web3 is a pushback against the perpetuation of these societal pains that have haunted the web’s evolution.

Web3: 3 Distinct solutions

The web has consistently pushed the boundaries of human connection and interaction. We are now on the cusp of a new era. This transformative revolution involves three distinct parallel and simultaneous paths of innovation.

• AI-powered Community Management. Artificial intelligence (AI) is being integrated seamlessly everywhere, automating tasks and providing valuable insights to community managers. AI-powered tools can already moderate content, provide customer support, and analyse community data, allowing managers to focus on strategic initiatives and personalised member interactions. This integration of AI streamlines community management, enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness.
   
  It’s easy to predict the broader effect of AI on community management environments. It starts by understanding three of the main priorities held by the big corporates that manage online spaces. These are value to the user, time spent online, and revenue (mostly through data and advertising). 
  
  AI serves these priorities by improving the quality of the connections made between users and what they really want, already illustrated by TikTok’s current AI algorithm. This means that social entrepreneurs will be rewarded with more user influence and attention if they focus on a narrow niche of only those users they can best serve. 
  
  It is helpful for brands to start conceptualising themselves as serving multiple micro niches instead of one broad niche. This will also require reconceptualising what truly makes them unique and what is the core of their brand that must never change. 

• Decentralised communities. Imagine a world where communities have the power to decide their own rules, hold their discussions in the open, and work together without fear of censorship. This is the promise of decentralised communities, and it’s likely to be the next trend to starts gaining momentum in the online world. There are already many social platforms dedicated to this kind of interaction, and it’s not Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter (yet).
  

   

  Decentralised communities are leading the way to more democratic and equitable online experiences. They are built on the idea that everyone should have a say in how things are run. This means less censorship and manipulation, and more space for diverse voices to be heard.

  It marks a shift from mindlessness to empowerment; instead of passively consuming content, users in decentralised communities can become active participants. They can build tools, share resources, and contribute to the decision-making process. This creates a sense of ownership and responsibility, leading to stronger communities.

  Decentralised communities can automatically manage tasks, digital resources (such as finances), moderation and access, based on the rules and values agreed upon by the community. It ensures transparency and complete alignment with the community’s values. This can save time and resources. It can also help to reduce bias, human error, blind spots and corruption. This is why these structures have become magnets for funding opportunities.

  How could such communities benefit your target audience? Could they be used to facilitate collaboration, share resources, or raise funds for a social causes? By understanding this trend and taking steps to prepare for it, social entrepreneurs can position themselves as leaders in the new digital landscape.

• Metaverse. The metaverse is a conceptual idea for a shared, immersive virtual world that is interconnected and persistent. It is a convergence of physical and digital spaces, where users can collaborate and engage in a wide range of activities as if they were physically present in the same space.
  
  Where virtual reality allows for immersive digital experiences, other related technologies allow for users to interact with a virtual world that is projected onto (and interacts with) the real world they see. Where mobile screens moved some of our virtual attention from desktop screens, this will move some of our virtual attention off our screens altogether but in so doing increase our time spent in virtual spaces. 
  
  There is still a lot of work to be done before the metaverse becomes readily accessible; however, with Microsoft, Meta and Google collectively spending hundreds of billions of dollars on this technology, we may well see this technology suddenly entering mainstream society at some point. When it does, it has the potential to revolutionise the way communities can gather, socialise, and participate in shared experiences, allowing for the formation of more influencial bonds, collaborations and lenses through which we see the world.
  
  The metaverse could encourage a disconnect from the real world (and from the meaningfulness of tangible change); however, it conversely introduces an opportunity to make a movement’s vision an immersive experience and to help one’s community to see the real world — along with its threats and opportunities — through the lenses of such a vision. It is where the power of storytelling and shared narratives will truly come to life as a super-tool in establishing a sense of collective identity, purpose and strong community bonds. For this to work effectively for social change we should already start thinking about our vision in terms of an immersive experience.

   

Social entrepreneurs play a pivotal role in shaping Web3, ensuring that its innovations align with ethical principles and promote positive societal impact. They must carefully navigate the opportunities and threats, embracing the potential while remaining mindful of the risks.