In short: Yes if you do it on appointment. I wouldn't recommend to start any type of asynchronous community like a forum, Slack community, or so on as people are already

When Digital Communities Shine

Digital communities are great for connecting people from various locations without travel. For example, in the Swiss Service Design Network, webinars are really essential. It's a bit hard to ask people to travel hours every month. But asking people to join remotely each month is a reasonable ask.

Plus, you can invite international speakers, adding more value than local-only events.

The Problem with Digital Communities: overwhelming inbox

We already juggle too many asynchronous messaging tools: emails, WhatsApp, LinkedIn messages, Slack, and work tools.

Adding another channel can overwhelm people.

The Synchronous Solution

For example, Marc Fonteijn's community, Circle, focused on in-house service designers, shows how to avoid it. There is no whatsapp group, Linkedin group or slack for it. People come all together at the same time, and if they want to continue the conversation personally, they figure it out themselves.

Live appointments are easier to manage and less overwhelming. People join specific moments rather than staying constantly connected.

It's like churches where everyone meets for Sunday service and smaller groups gather during the week.

Written with AI help

This article is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.