Hi everyone. I've spent the last few days reading through over 20 of the top 2024 forecast reports across consumer behaviors, technology, marketing, and customer experience. You can read my in-depth summary of 8 key trends here. I'd love to know: How these 8 trends will impact your approach to community OR What are your predictions for the year ahead? 1. Human connection will be the key to successfully integrating AI into customer experiences 2. Non-personalized customer experiences will no longer resonate 3. Brand trust will continue to decline 4. Top service will beat low prices 5. Customers will expect high quality experiences across the customer journey 6. Brands will have to do more with less data and feedback 7. Gen-AI misinformation will drive people away from social media 8. Gen-AI will change how people search for information

Wanted to share this paper from Insight Partners, a very successful global VC.  You can download from this link https://www.insightpartners.com/ideas/the-scaleup-guide-to-community-led-growth/ I'd be interested to see papers from other VCs if you have seen any.

Hello Zapnito community! This Thursday 21st September we will be taking over The Hoxton Hotel in Holborn, London from 8.30-11am to discuss things all community. You can find more info and RSVP here. There will be a panel discussion with our CEO @Charles Thiede ; Founder of Community Pros London @Madeleine Milne , Former Strava Senior Community Manager @Lou Branscomb and our very own @Jack Bartrop . This will be an amazing opportunity to discover and discuss how businesses like yours are leveraging their online communities to create a competitive advantage. You will also get the chance to meet and connect with community leaders across different industries. If you’re attending, feel free to introduce yourself below and share what you’re hoping to get out of the session!

I'd love to have a look at some of your Zapnito-designed communities to see what they all look like and how you have built them for your audience. If you have an open community you would like to share, please add your link. I'd love to know what's been working for you and what's been a pain point. Perhaps as a community, we can help each other?

So, I admit it I am a complete sheep and have duly signed up to Threads to "check it out". Just wondered what others on here feel about it? First impressions is great UX, (pretty much a like for like copy of Twitter, right?), ease of use to sign up couldn't be simpler, and people are revelling in it being a place of kindness and generosity (so far). I am just wondering if this is yet another platform which once again fundamentally holds all the power when it comes to our ability to reach our followers (ie customers) and therefore it will be available in its current form for as long as it suits Threads (and let's not kid ourselves, Meta's bottom line)? Yes, sure a nice new shiny platform which we all probably "should" be on to have a presence but the more I see of these big corps changing their algorithms at their whim (note, LinkedIn changed their algorithms last week and organic reach apparently dropped off a cliff) the more I am convinced we need to get better at our own direct relationship building with our customers. Or else have deep pockets to pay for reach when organic search doesn't suit the corporation in charge anymore! Anyway, just wondered if you are all on it and what your initial thoughts are?