Don’t look for community. Build it.

For 2024, I set a goal to prioritize meaningful and energizing relationships while also providing space for others to do the same. 

The best way to start seemed to be doing this within my own line of work, which has seen a staggering volume of layoffs already in the first two months of the year.

So in February, I posted on Twitter that I was starting a group for reporters and media professionals. People should sign up, I said, if they want to meet and support people in their industry. 

I called it Journalists Club. 

Within one day I had 25 applications. A week later I hosted 10 people for the inaugural dinner. 

When I posted the above photo on social media, the waitlist ballooned to about 75 people.

I’m hosting my second dinner this week, and have plans for several more this month. 

(If you’re interested in attending, sign up here.)

I realize now the strong demand for Journalists Club shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The pandemic created pent-up appetite for in-person events that I believe still hasn’t been fully realized. 

The remote work boom — and accompanying virtual happy hours and disjointed office cultures — has made meeting up in real life the exception rather than the rule. 

It occurred to me most journalists recognize each other’s bylines or know their peers from press events, but seldom do they have the chance to commiserate in a setting that doesn’t involve covering news. 

I think a similar observation holds true for most industries. 

Community doesn’t grow on trees, but the barrier to entry is lower than people think. 

It can start with a group chat. That opens the door to small dinners with everyone in the chat, then bigger dinners if every member brings one friend. Eventually, the circle gets too big for a meal, so happy hours become the natural next step.

Inertia matters, and it doesn’t take much to create a fast-moving snowball. 

My friend Andrew Yeung is a master at this. I’ve learned a lot watching him create an entire business around community and events, most of which are free.

He has a great blog post about hosting industry dinners.

One secret to building something that lasts, Andrew’s told me many times, is to give, give, and give. 

While “be helpful” doesn’t exactly sound like innovative advice, it does make a powerful North Star. It’s an effective aim precisely because it isn’t a growth tactic or hack.

Scale isn’t what makes communities genuine or useful. 

To be sure, challenges remain. Many of the traditional ways we used to find community are in flux. Church-going and religion have declined for decades, and younger generations seem to feel less obligation to their extended families than in the past.

Broader relationship trends also don’t look promising. Americans are marrying later and people are moving cities more often — two patterns associated with self-reported feelings of isolation and loneliness. 

On top of that, people in the US are working increasingly long hours, which means it’s more likely than ever for Americans to meet friends at work than any other place. 

That’s problematic in the context of remote work, but it does clarify why industry-specific communities can be so useful.

I’m not sure how Journalists Club will evolve, but already it feels like one of the most important things I’m working on.