Early Plexus friends,
Connection-making technology may have its greatest impact not just in connecting notes, but also in connecting people.
While we’re excited to share updates soon about our work to make meaningful connections between notes, I’m writing now to share our work to build a new kind of community forum that makes frequent and substantive connections between people.
Shared Brain Prototype
With any more than ten active members, existing community forums (like Reddit & Discord), all of which center around a feed, become a nightmare to navigate.
So we built a community forum without a feed: plexus.earth. Community members open Plexus Earth, find a blank page, share an idea or problem, and then see, immediately, the most relevant thoughts from the rest of their community.
Shared Brain Pilots
With the help of Plexus’ superb summer Community Intern, Uzma Sheikh, we launched Shared Brains for three online communities:
A Discord server for parents and educators focused on homeschooling. (Demo)
A subreddit focused on helping people connect through pregnancy experiences (r/amipregnant).
Betaworks’ Render Conference, about tools for thinking:
In each pilot, we’ve seen a glimpse of what it's like for people to connect through the content of their thoughts rather than the people they know. And, in the words of one community member, “it feels really good.”
If you’re in a community that wants a more meaningful home online, shoot us a note.
Grateful for you all & imagining community of the future,
Davey