One of the biggest misconceptions about community is that someone has to create it.
They don't.
Communities often form all by themselves.
The Washington Post recently published an article about the rise of "teen takeovers"—large gatherings of young people organized through social media that have caused problems in cities across the country. The headlines make it sound like a story about crime. I think it's really a story about community.
One researcher interviewed for the article said:
"A lot of kids that have been interviewed talk about it: They just want to be out in public, outside, socializing—not online. With the pandemic, I think a lot of kids missed out on that for a long time."
Another researcher, who has attended these gatherings, offered a similar observation:
Teens "overwhelmingly come not to be violent, but because they are bored with community spaces in their neighborhoods. But if a takeover does get out of control... it allows some to flex their rebelliousness. When something disruptive happens, it becomes the draw."
The problem wasn't that thousands of teenagers gathered. That's a fundamentally human impulse. The problem was that nobody had given them a shared purpose, clear expectations, or meaningful ways to spend their time together.
By the end of the article, several cities had started to recognize this. They weren't relying only on curfews or larger police presences. They were creating late-night basketball leagues, gaming tournaments, concerts, festivals, and other organized activities that gave teenagers somewhere else to gather. They weren't trying to stop community from forming. They were trying to shape it.
I see the same thing happen with creator communities.
A creator launches a Discord server, Facebook group, or Slack workspace and assumes the community will take care of itself.
Sometimes it does.
Usually it doesn't.
Community forms naturally.
Community design doesn't.
Opening a space for people to gather isn't community building. It's just providing a place. Building a community requires intentionally designing what happens after people arrive. You have to think carefully about who it's for, why they would join, what they'll do together, and how you'll encourage the behaviors you want to see.
Without a shared purpose, conversations drift. Without expectations, a handful of members define the culture for everyone else. Without meaningful activities, participation fades because nobody knows why they should come back.
People will always find ways to gather.
The creators who succeed are the ones who think carefully about what happens after people show up.
If you want to build a community that people choose to come back to, you can't leave it to chance.
That's exactly what we'll do in The Why? Workshop, my free live workshop on designing communities with intention. Together, we'll define why your community should exist, who it's for, and what will give people a reason to gather in the first place.
If you've been thinking about launching a community—or wondering why your current one isn't gaining traction—this is where to start:
Design Your Community With Intention
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