Community is one of the most frequently used — and least clearly defined — terms in media, publishing, and digital product conversations right now.
Every conference panel wants it.
Every strategy deck promises it.
Every publisher claims to be building it.
Yet when you listen closely, people are often talking about very different things.
This lack of clarity isn’t just semantic. It leads to mismatched expectations, disappointed teams, and community initiatives that never quite deliver on their promise.
So let’s slow down for a moment and look at how community is understood from different perspectives — and why aligning those views matters.
The editorial perspective: community as trust and relevance
From an editorial point of view, community is rooted in shared relevance.
It’s the group of people who come back not just because content exists, but because it resonates. They feel seen, understood, and taken seriously. Over time, this creates trust — and trust is what turns occasional readers into loyal participants.
In this context, community is not measured by pageviews or reach. It shows up in:
- recurring participation
- thoughtful responses
- contributions that add context or lived experience
- willingness to engage respectfully with others
Editorially, community is about dialogue, not distribution.
The product perspective: community as interaction Iinfrastructure
From a product perspective, community becomes much more concrete.
Here, community is defined by the systems that allow people to interact with each other, not just with content. Profiles, roles, moderation tools, chats, comments, notifications, events — these are the building blocks.
A crucial distinction emerges at this point:
An audience consumes.
A community interacts.
If users cannot easily respond, connect, or be recognised, then community remains an aspiration rather than a lived experience. Product decisions — often small ones — determine whether interaction feels natural or forced.
In many failed community attempts, the intention was editorial, but the tooling never supported it.
The marketing perspective: community as relationship and advocacy
Marketing often views community through the lens of relationship strength.
A community is valuable because its members don’t just stay, they recommend, invite, defend, and advocate. They become ambassadors, sometimes without being asked.
From this angle, community shows its value in:
- retention rather than acquisition
- organic referrals
- feedback loops that improve products and content
- emotional attachment to the brand
This is where community stops being a “nice to have” and becomes a strategic growth asset. Not fast, not explosive — but resilient and compounding.
The data & growth perspective: community as long-term value
From a data point of view, community behaves very differently from reach-driven products.
It grows more slowly.
It looks smaller on dashboards.
It often feels underwhelming in early phases.
But what it lacks in speed, it makes up for in depth.
Metrics that start to matter here include:
- cohort retention over time
- frequency and consistency of participation
- contribution rates (not just likes)
- referrals driven by members
Community success rarely shows up in a single spike. It shows up in curves that refuse to fall.
A necessary reality check
Not everything that claims to be a community actually is one.
A newsletter with a comment section is not automatically a community.
A social media group you don’t control is not a community strategy.
A platform feature alone does not create belonging.
Community begins where people feel they belong, and it only works when organisations are willing to listen, adapt, and commit for the long term.
Our take at tchop
We believe community is not a feature, not a channel, and not a campaign.
It’s a strategic decision that touches:
- editorial mindset
- product design
- marketing goals
- leadership commitment
When these perspectives align, community stops being a buzzword and starts becoming a durable advantage — one built on trust, participation, and genuine connection.
And that’s when it starts to matter.
