There are very few innovations that I feel the need to tout. When things like ICQ, Facebook, YouTube came out – they changed the very nature of the way I communicate and connect to those around me. When they came out, friends and family never heard the end of it. ICQ allowed me to connect and talk to new people all around the globe with similar interests. Facebook supplanted the need to have a website (for awhile) as if was easier to post my adventures and upload images there than manually doing so on my server. YouTube and Twitch basically replaced the need for TV, preferring to support smaller content creators than being stuck watching the same old programming being featured on cable. I feel like Discord is very much a new platform that will eventually find its way to influence they way we gather and connect to each other.
One of the reasons I am gung-ho toward Discord is because there are other companies already trying to launch their own versions. Just this week, I was asked to help my peers understand how to implement Microsoft Teams at work. The more I worked with the program, the more I realized – this is Discord. When we dropped our phone lines and Skype to implement Fuze a year earlier, I noticed the similarities as well. I also joined Slack a year before that and found that Slack’s only advantage was that it was browser based so it could bypass many corporate set firewall settings. Regardless of who came first – it was clear that there is a new trend on how to communicate, where we could gather, and how we could store/share information. The trend is clear, we are Social Networked Exhausted, it’s time to bring back the fluidity of the message board with the clarity of live streaming.
Back in the early 2000’s I used to run and moderate a number of RPG and Sailor Moon Fan Based message boards. The way one would need to communicate was set by hierarchal rules and boundaries. You had moderators to help organize and keep the channel fun for everyone. You could separate out topics and interests so conversations could stay linear and not get hijacked. Those who didn’t follow the rules got the ban hammer. Now I’m not saying Facebook and other internal corporate internal applications don’t have this option. There is plenty on the backend settings to help you, but I feel that most groups or topics can lose the fluidity and organization of a message board when you start to have either too much activity or not enough. I also feel like many of those that start groups also don’t know how to use all the features that help them connect to the very audience they wish to engage. That’s where Discord comes into play.
I started using Discord in 2017 to connect for my D&D games. Discord itself though has been around for much longer than that, and rose to popularity around 2015. Discord is a combination of instant messaging and message board. You can set up your own hierarchies, moderate (or install bots to mod) the content for you, and the best part is you can communicate not only in realtime – but open up real conversations with people live through their voice chat feature. This voice chat feature is probably one of the more spotless connections I’ve been able to speak on. Skype, Fuze, Facebook, and many of the corporate Goto Meetings constantly dropped. Discord on the other hand is clear. You can easily drop in and out of public conversations. You can hold your own private conversations as well. Since its built for gaming and not for business, it doesn’t have a scheduling function, but I am sure someone somewhere already made a bot for that. The big thing is, the program lends itself to being used as a real-time communication platform. It’s not meant to be turned off, rather than left on. I feel like on the corporate applications side of things, it relied on too many different places to gather all the information you needed. With Discord you can actually collaborate within the platform itself. its like being able to hold a scrum meeting while working at the same time.
Now I see Discord really making an impact going forward as we start to thing about how we can connect better on a global scale as well as more companies start to shit to embrace a more remote gig economy. The reason why it has changed my life so far is the fact that I no longer have to rely on trying to set up physical meet-ups with people to have real conversations about topics I like. Discord made playing D&D so much easier because we can literally roll out of bed and get online in an instant. It’s hard to find other people who are interested in Eygptology that also aren’t going to spam you with “Ancient Alien Facts.” With Discord you can now control the caliber of people in the group and the type of content that is being shared. A major win for the fans of #factchecking! You can also easily start a Discord group to connect and run your business. Want to meet up with weird people to just share memes and a sick sense of humor – Discord. Want to connect to anyone in an instant anywhere in the world (provided they have internet, a computer/mobile, and the program itself)? Discord baby!
Discord isn’t without its own limitations though. I doubt many corporations are going to want to use the same program to conduct business as I subscribed to tentacle porn on. The same being said that a server could also get congested with a couple of enthusiastic members, making it hard to read a linear conversation. We still don’t have live streaming yet, something that would give us the option to be able to give presentations or share what we are currently working on with others privately. They also do not have a record feature. That is one thing I loved about Fuze – you could essentially create a backlog of virtual meetings and presentations that you could share with anyone that had permissions. So far, you are relying on 3rd parties like Twitch or OBS to do that for you.
Regardless though, I see myself using Discord now as a way to connect and communication. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are all great marketing tools and a way to passively communicate with you audience. If you want to communicate though as if you have unlimited people in your living room, Discord is the way to go. It’s deff worth learning to use the tool, because as we move forward and business practices start to change, so will the tools. And I have a very strange feeling they will start looking and bevacing like Discord. So get a jump start now, jump into the program if you haven’t already. See how it could change how you do business or communicate to those you wish to communicate with.
What is your favorite way to communicate long-distance? Have you tried Discord? What are you thoughts on the trend for social media tools?