A few weeks ago I spent half the week at an on-site with my team and our partners at Hivebrite, and half the week at CMX Summit. 5 nearly non-stop days of talking about Community from every possible angle.
I came out feeling even more optimistic about the future of the Community industry.
Here’s why.
Learning how to use a tool isn’t just about what the buttons do. It’s about inspiration: what can this tool do? It’s about relevance: what is the best use of this tool for me specifically? It’s about best practices: how can I make it easier to use this tool? It’s about scaffolding: where should I start?
All of that is actually exacerbated by the current era, where one of the most common interfaces is a chat box. Sure, that chat box can do amazing things…but how do you know what it can do? Where you should start? How to apply it to your industry, role, or task?
You learn these things from humans who have learned to use these tools and been generous enough to share their perspectives.
There’s a reason companies like OpenAI and Anthropic and Glean are putting major dollars behind Community, events, and education. Having a great tool is step one – helping people figure out how to best use it is another, and individual, niche, trustworthy human perspectives are the path.
LLMs are trained on content. If there’s no content about how to use your product, an LLM can’t magically figure it out. LLMs are not trying these products and using them within businesses and developing best practices – they’re reading, summarizing, consolidating, and serving up content written by humans.
For LLMs to thrive, new human content must continue to be created.
AI is a powerful tool for humans…but it also makes us lonelier and more anxious. People using AI at work crave human connection. Community delivers connection, meaning, and camaraderie.
This is where the need for Community meets the abilities we suddenly have.
Community teams are known for being incredibly efficient. Read another way, we’re often resource strapped. Community teams sit on a gold mine of data. Read another way, it’s very hard to pull useful data and insights from the noise. Community is deeply personal. Read another way, it’s hard to pitch people “Community” as a concept or point people to the piece of community content best for them.
AI changes all of this.
Don’t have a tool you need? Vibe code it.
Trying to analyze something? Ask your MCP.
Spending all your time on rote tasks? Automate it with AI so you can do the important work of contracting with and understanding humans.
Want to promote your community? Use AI to personalize the recommendations so you send people right to the most relevant content for them.
Over the years we’ve gotten better and better at building connection and tying Community work back to business goals, but the tooling and resources have been pretty stagnant. This is a LEAP forward. People are going to do spectacular, previously unimaginable or unrealistic things with these tools. And I can’t wait to see it.
I don’t expect, nor want, another Community gold rush anytime soon. What I want and expect to see is steady, sustainable growth; Community teams with immense depth and breadth of impact within their organizations, receiving the well-deserved recognition that Community is an efficient, effective, and essential motion. It’s not a rocket ship, it’s a trail. It won’t result in great riches on a short timeframe, but I believe those that keep hiking up that trail will find a glorious summit.