That's no community. That's a comment section

"Increasingly, the internet is full of marketers pointing at TikTok or Instagram followers and saying, "Look at this community we've built!" But just because someone double-taps your post or drops a fire emoji doesn't mean they'd notice if you disappeared tomorrow. The reality is that most marketers are still confusing community with reach, attention with belonging, and engagement with meaning."

"A million TikTok followers? Great. Well done, you. But that's an audience, not a community. Audiences watch. Communities participate. They're not passive. They stop the scroll and get involved. If someone watches your video for three seconds and moves on with their day, they're not part of anything. Community also requires a shared identity. It's where people talk to each other, and not just about you."

By 2025, "community" has become a vague, overused marketing buzzword often misapplied. Marketers frequently conflate followers and likes with membership and belonging, mistaking reach and engagement for genuine participation. Real communities involve dialogue, shared identity, norms, and mutual involvement rather than passive audiences that scroll past content. Platforms like Discord enable people to build subcultures and sustained interactions, yet brands overlook these spaces in favor of mainstream channels. Common mistakes include equating scale with substance and prioritizing vanity metrics. Building authentic communities requires recognizing membership, fostering interaction between members, and supporting spaces where people genuinely connect.

Read at The Drum