Dec 6 2022
Book clubs
I want to host book clubs and dinner parties. I think everyone could have more intimate, thoughtful, and meaningful discussion in their lives.
Talking about a book over dinner sounds like a fun way to have that. I’d also like to talk about people’s problems, what they are obsessing over, what they are worried and excited about, and the stories that have shaped them.
Organizing these events is tough though. You need everyone to be on the same page in terms of enthusiasm and commitment. There’s a market (of at least me) for a product that filters and finds community members based enthusiasm and commitment. One of the negatives of the internet on communities is that it’s too easy to join them. Communities live and die by a few highly engaged members.
There’s a cool blog post about the evaporative cooling effect of communities—when high value contributors leave which lowers the overall quality of the community, causing more people to leave until the community descends into something entirely unremarkable.
I’m thinking a lot about how to create more resilient communities. Ones that can maintain quality while scaling.