Discord was an app that enabled real-time voice and text chatting, so friends could team up to conquer an obstacle, or just chat while exploring a game world. When Discord was initially released in 2015, many video games did not allow players to talk to each other using live voice chat while playing the game – or required them to pay premium prices to do so. But the small-group niche community is making a comeback with adults, and with kids and teens. This allows social media sites to suggest new spaces users might join, whether it’s a local neighborhood discussion or a group with the same hobby, and sell specifically targeted advertising.

Since the early 2000s, mass-appeal social media platforms have collected these small spaces into bigger ones, letting people find their own little corners of the internet, but only with interconnections to others. Initially, there were dial-up chat servers, email lists and text-based discussion groups focused on specific interests. Ever since the earliest days of the internet in the 1980s, getting online has meant getting involved in a community.

Discord app dev