A User's Guide to Building a Subculture

How communities form online

This week I’m in Asterisk Magazine with a new piece about how to build subcultures online. I’ve got a fairly unique view into that process through my own journey online, and I think there are a number of distinct steps that make successful subcultures thrive:

The first and most obvious thing you’ll need to create a subculture is something to care about.

This principle is far more flexible than you may realize. Subcultures can organize around hobbies or ideologies. They often revolve around politicians, celebrities, or internet personas. They can organize themselves around a technology, a location, or a mission. There are sports subcultures. There are drug subcultures. Occasionally, the organizing principle of a subculture is self-referential. The Something Awful website was one of the most influential sources of internet culture for years, and their dedicated subculture was defined solely by being a member of the Something Awful forums.

I’ll call this the Flag. People are tribal by nature, and they instinctively look for flags to rally around. Sports teams and political parties are obvious ones. Maybe it’s the writings of a popular blogger like Scott Alexander. Maybe it’s Beyoncé. Whatever you choose, giving people an identifiable Flag to stand under is necessary to get started.

Like a real-world flag, a good Flag is distinctive and memorable. It should be easily identifiable, even from a distance. It should give your group a purpose, a reason to gather and form a community. An ideal Flag will scratch a cultural itch, fill a hole that people didn’t even realize needed filling. A Flag gives your group an identity to share. It’ll give you a purpose. It will likely give you a name.

But once you’ve got a name, a common cause, and a shared identity, you’ll need to strengthen it…

Check out the entire piece over at Asterisk Magazine!