Old topic, as old as smartphones. There have been several communities like yours posted over the years, but I haven't saved them and probably won't be able to find them anymore (another modern disease).
Teens are glued to the screens because of technologists dopamine-hacking their minds and later realize that it was all a waste of time (or they don't realize it and are just left in an uncomfortable, diffuse void). You can see these sorts of engagements happening live on mainstream social media en masse around the clock.
I'm find it unlikely to solve via yet another platform, because:
1. it will be unfocussed by default. The best virtual connections I made were in communities built around something else (e.g. specific (and obscure) games/topics). It got your foot in the door and served as a self-selection mechanism/created common ground from the get-go.
2. it will be inherently more tedious to engage in than in the passive consumer setting. Making interesting, lasting connections means getting to know social quirks and habits and all and may require lurking/revisiting for weeks/months depending on the setting, and most importantly mutually solidifying your new connection (i.e. it doesn't stay optional). It definitely cannot be bought by making donations to your favorite streamer. This may strongly depend on mutual intent, and I may be wildly off here.
I'm also convinced that we connect on a mental level. F2F interactions are sideshows to me at first and I'd rather not do it until I already have a good picture of you (voice is okay), but YMMV. For a very personal connection they become important eventually (but this level I haven't reached with anyone I met online because I didn't want to).
Good luck anyway. Everybody's different. I'm certainly glad I have most of my school (and even some kindergarten) friends still with me!
Also, the best way to solve this IMO would be to turn off all the parasitic platforms. Things would sort themselves out very quickly, but in this market you unfortunately cannot sell anti-consumption...
Also, your in-person angle seems something that one might do on their own, i.e. you'd look for local sports, arts clubs or the like (see 1.). Haven't used your platform, but these should probably be involved on there.
Thanks for the great feedback. Yeah, you are right in that similar things have been tried and I would also think that with the more of these types of platforms that have failed, it makes it even harder.
I wanted to hear your thoughts on one thing maybe that is I made the platform F2F first with the hopes of trying to bypass some of the normal pitfalls. As you said in your last line the goal is you start off by going to one of the events like sports or art clubs or car meets and then join a community and the online aspects like posts are to strengthen ties with that community that you are trying to foster.
Agree on relatively strict self-selection being a necessary component for any thriving community. Also, most (dare I say all?) of my friendships have been formed not because I stumbled across an interesting person I decided to bond with, but because some external circumstance (living situation, hobbies) made it so that we were in close contact over an extended period of time.
That is what I was thinking in that you can only join a community after going to an event with it, the goal is to not turn communities into another subreddit but a place where people are truly connecting.
That last line is also completely true for me and the thought is events would lead to an increased amount of those chance encounters especially because people are meeting over things that they like.
Teens are glued to the screens because of technologists dopamine-hacking their minds and later realize that it was all a waste of time (or they don't realize it and are just left in an uncomfortable, diffuse void). You can see these sorts of engagements happening live on mainstream social media en masse around the clock.
I'm find it unlikely to solve via yet another platform, because:
1. it will be unfocussed by default. The best virtual connections I made were in communities built around something else (e.g. specific (and obscure) games/topics). It got your foot in the door and served as a self-selection mechanism/created common ground from the get-go.
2. it will be inherently more tedious to engage in than in the passive consumer setting. Making interesting, lasting connections means getting to know social quirks and habits and all and may require lurking/revisiting for weeks/months depending on the setting, and most importantly mutually solidifying your new connection (i.e. it doesn't stay optional). It definitely cannot be bought by making donations to your favorite streamer. This may strongly depend on mutual intent, and I may be wildly off here.
I'm also convinced that we connect on a mental level. F2F interactions are sideshows to me at first and I'd rather not do it until I already have a good picture of you (voice is okay), but YMMV. For a very personal connection they become important eventually (but this level I haven't reached with anyone I met online because I didn't want to).
Good luck anyway. Everybody's different. I'm certainly glad I have most of my school (and even some kindergarten) friends still with me!
Also, the best way to solve this IMO would be to turn off all the parasitic platforms. Things would sort themselves out very quickly, but in this market you unfortunately cannot sell anti-consumption...
Also, your in-person angle seems something that one might do on their own, i.e. you'd look for local sports, arts clubs or the like (see 1.). Haven't used your platform, but these should probably be involved on there.