AI gave us endless content on demand. Helpful, yes. But let’s be honest: the AI era often feels like eating alone at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Efficient, personalized, and… lonely.

Ben Thompson makes a sharp point in his recent piece: the real power of content is not just in consumption but in communion. The best content becomes a rallying point, a “totem pole” people gather around. In a world where AI answers are tailored to the individual, what is missing is the shared experience that builds belonging. That is where publishers can shine. Via Stratechery by Ben Thompson

Think about it. Your AI feed serves you perfectly, but it is not serving us. It does not create the “we were there” moment that makes fans, book clubs, and communities stick. Ben’s argument is simple and inconvenient in the best way: publishers should focus on building direct relationships and designing content that creates common ground. Subscriptions help. But the real unlock is content that people want to discuss together tomorrow. Via Stratechery by Ben Thompson

We can already see the power of shared moments. Look at BookTok: beyond the memes and shelf tours, it turned reading into a social sport—and moved serious units along the way. Circana estimates that roughly 59 million U.S. print sales in 2024 were tied to BookTok creators and content. That’s not a trend; that’s gravity. Via Publishersweekly.com

I spend my days helping publishers modernize their operations. Here is what I see across houses large and small:

• We often over-optimize for reach and under-design for ritual.

• We produce content, but we do not always stage it for gathering.

• We talk ROI, but we do not instrument the signals that show community is forming.

Meanwhile, AI keeps getting better at the “solo snack.” It will summarize, translate, riff, and remix all day. Great. Let it. Our advantage is designing the table where people want to sit together.

A simple framework to turn content into community

Use this like a checklist before you ship the next article, podcast, video, or newsletter.

1. Anchor: Create one flagship piece that sets the agenda for the week or month. Make it a conversation magnet: a strong POV, a surprising data point, a smart analogy. You are not just informing; you are defining the topic everyone can reference.

2. Ritual: Schedule recurring, lightweight moments around the anchor. Live Q&A for 20 minutes. “Three hot takes” on Friday. A monthly “editor’s room” where you show how a headline evolves. Rituals create habit. Habits create community.

3. Participation: Lower the barrier to entry. Offer prompts readers can answer in 30 seconds. Add polls that kick off debates. Invite marginalia: “What sentence would you delete?” When people contribute, they invest.

4. Memory: Capture the best moments and feed them back into the next cycle. Pull quotes, top questions, fan spotlights. This turns fleeting chatter into a living archive that new members can catch up on fast.

Do those four things and suddenly your content is not a solo act. It is a stage.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth from the trenches: B2B publishers are miles ahead at building communities around their content. For many of them, community is the product — with membership programs, peer networks, research hubs, and event flywheels that run year-round.

A concrete example: B2B Marketing’s Propolis turned one annual event audience into a paid, year-round subscriber community. Today, Propolis represents ~45% of the company’s revenue, with 80+ subscribing companies and 1,200–1,500 pros inside, including IBM, Deloitte, Siemens and more. That’s community-as-business-model, not just a “nice to have.” Via A Media Operator

Zoom out and the pattern holds: when publishers actively invest in community features (profiles, conversations, rituals, meetups), engagement and conversion jump. Viafoura’s cross-publisher data shows community members drive 5.3× higher dwell time, are 45× more likely to subscribe, and make 3× more visits than non-members. That is not a rounding error — it’s a strategy. Via Digiday

By contrast, most trade book publishers still benchmark mostly against other book publishers. It’s understandable — same formats, same retailers — but it narrows the playbook. The missed opportunity is to learn from the operators in B2B who’ve already systematized community (programming calendars, member journeys, facilitation, renewal mechanics). Even industry insiders in scholarly publishing argue we should explicitly prioritize community-building and leadership skills; it takes intention and craft. Via Wiley Online Library

This isn’t a dunk on books. If anything, the success of BookTok proves readers crave shared experiences — the community simply formed outside publisher walls, not inside them. Meanwhile, many houses are only now catching up on direct-to-reader capabilities after years of struggle — progress, yes, but also a reminder to widen the lens on where we learn. Via Vox Jane Friedman

My take: book publishers should treat B2B media folks as classmates, not cousins. Compare notes on member programming, retention rituals, and how to turn a single tent-pole article, podcast, or webinar into a year-round community cadence.

Ben is right to point out that ad-driven content is a tough road in an AI-summarized world. The path forward is direct relationships and revenue per reader, often through subscriptions. Communities do not just comment. They support. They renew. They bring friends. They even show up in real life. Via Stratechery by Ben Thompson

A small hint about what I am building

I will not overhype this. I am sketching a small, publisher-first space for the operators who actually run the workflows: metadata folks, marketers, product managers, rights, editorial, operations. Not a walled garden, not a “platform,” just a focused place to compare notes, swap templates, and test rituals that make us all better. Consider this a nudge, not a launch.

If that sounds interesting, keep an eye on this feed and this website of Publishing Signal. Or better yet, tell me what kind of ritual you would show up for.

AI excels at giving each of us an answer. Publishing’s superpower is giving all of us a conversation. If we design for shared moments, we will build communities that outlast the algorithm.

Your turn: What’s one ritual you’d show up for—live Q&A, editorial teardown, or “three hot takes”? Reply with your pick (and why). I’ll share the best playbooks back with the community.

Hat tip to Ben Thompson for the spark. If you want the original argument, it is well worth your time.

Sources:

• Stratechery — “Content and Community” (July 21, 2025). The spark for this post; explores how content becomes a rallying point and why direct relationships matter. Stratechery by Ben Thompson

• BookTok impact on sales (Circana). Publishers Weekly summary citing Circana: ~59M U.S. print sales in 2024 tied to BookTok-related creators/content. PublishersWeekly.com TikTok Newsroom post (World Book Day) reiterating the 59M figure and community dynamics. Newsroom | TikTok Jane Friedman’s analysis putting that stat in context. Jane Friedman

• B2B community model — Propolis (B2B Marketing). A Media Operator interview/feature: Propolis now ~45% of company revenue; ~80 subscribing companies and 1,200–1,500 members (incl. IBM, Deloitte, Siemens, etc.). A Media Operator Propolis product page for background on the offering and positioning. b2bmarketing.net Related press update on Propolis’ strategic materials (useful context). Yahoo Finance

• Community metrics publishers care about (Viafoura). 5.3× higher dwell time, 45× more likely to subscribe, 3× more site visits for community members vs. standard audiences. Viafoura Earlier Viafoura write-up with the same benchmark set for additional corroboration. Viafoura

• On community-building as a leadership skill (scholarly publishing). Learned Publishing (Wiley): perspective piece urging our industry to prioritize community-building within leadership competencies. Wiley Online Library