Digital Listening

How to Listen to Your Community, Online

Last summer, my family and I attended the dirt track races in our community. It was an opportunity to get to know our neighbors a little better and to experience something new. At one point during the races I walked over to the fence that overlooks the Pit. This is where the racers and their friends who help keep their car in good running condition spend their evening. I spotted the following sign:

Now this is a sign with some stories to tell. You can tell a bit about the environment the track owner is trying to create. You can also tell where some of the conflicts within the group emerge. You can tell the owner is tired of the drama. I can think of some pastor friends who could use a sign like this outside their sanctuary.

I was curious to learn more about racetrack drama. Who wouldn’t be? So, I looked to the greatest collection of drama that humanity has ever compiled … Facebook.

I joined the racetrack Facebook group and was instantly welcomed into the thick of Southern racetrack drama. And it was everything I dreamed of. There were disagreements about which racing groups should be included, emotions that had boiled over during close races, family members behaving badly in the stands, and racers caught breaking the rules with prohibited engine components.

I also found a great deal of positive comments in the group. People encouraged one another for skillful driving, people requested prayer for racers fighting cancer, and countless other examples of supportive community. I was amazed at how much I could learn about this subculture of my community from just a few minutes scrolling through a Facebook group.

Find the Conversation

What’s the group or neighborhood you’re interested in learning about? Where are they having a conversation online? Facebook Groups are a great place to start. Facebook Groups are searchable and the discover feature will show you popular groups near you. You might search your neighborhood name or your town name and see what shows up. Nextdoor is another option, though I’ve found this one to be more toxic than Facebook (which is really saying something). Meetup.com is a place to find out what groups are active in your community. Eventbrite and other event platforms can help you find interesting gatherings to attend. A local newspaper website and the comments section can tell you a lot as well.

If you’re interested in learning about a subculture that isn’t geographically bound there are countless other places to look like reddit and websites that host specific subcultures. There’s even a subreddit dedicated to counting (they’re up to 5,400,901)! An article about it cites Peters’ Law of Internet Subcultures: “The existence of a thing implies the existence of an online group of people who are obsessed with that thing.”

Pairing online listening with in-person observation and conversation is a powerful combination for getting to know your community. Be curious and don’t feed the trolls!