What Makes Modern Community Platforms Thrive? Insights from 58’s Community Product

Evolution and Changes of Community Products

A community is a group of people connected online around a common theme. Traditional communities such as Tieba, Tianya, QQ groups, and Douban groups originated in the PC era. With the rise of mobile internet, new forms like WeChat groups, Weibo, Zhihu, and interest tribes have emerged, while traditional platforms have gradually declined.

Classification of Communities

Internet community products can be roughly divided into two categories.

1. Vertical communities focus on a specific domain, such as iQIYI Bubble Circle, Tencent Doki, or Keep’s fitness community.

These communities not only provide basic community functions but also guide discussions within a particular topic closely related to the product’s positioning.

2. Platform communities do not restrict users to a specific field; users can freely create and join topics of interest. Examples include interest tribes, Douban groups, and WeChat groups, where the platform only offers basic community features.

Characteristics of New‑Era Communities

· Youthful – The main users are post‑90s and post‑00s, who are more open, expressive, and attracted to sub‑cultures, rap, selfies, live streaming, and other forms of personal expression.

· Rich media – Unlike older communities that relied mainly on text, newer platforms emphasize voice, short video, live streaming, AR stickers, and other multimedia communication.

· Fragmented – Mobile internet enables users to communicate anytime, anywhere, breaking the constraints of time and location.

Conclusion

Combining the classification and characteristics, 58 Tongcheng’s “Tribe” is positioned as a vertical community centered on 58’s core business. However, it also hosts topics like matchmaking that extend beyond the core scope, suggesting room for deeper exploration.

The current product mainly supports image‑text posts, lacking rich‑media communication. To better serve younger blue‑collar users, future features should focus on personal expression and the inner world of this demographic, beyond basic livelihood needs.