New Discord Communities features have made their debut as the video and voice chat service expands beyond the realm of gaming where it got its start.
If you're a gamer, you may be a bit lost — isn't Discord that program that lets you chat with your friends while you game? It is still is (and will continue to be), but the company signaled a sort of rebranding as it moves outside of the gaming world in a blog post late last month.
Now, Discord has detailed what exactly a "Community" is, how it will work, and what sort of benefits it will give to the servers who sign up for this optional program. This isn't for everyone, though — smaller servers are not eligible for the inaugural wave of this program.
How Do Discord Communities Work?
Simply put, Discord Communities are simply big Discord servers. In fact, Communities are being limited at launch to servers that meet one or more of the following qualifications:
- 10,000 Members
- Partnered servers
- Verified servers
If you don't fall into that category, you won't be eligible for the new Communities features. That said, Discord does state that it will lower these limits over time in its announcement.
One of the key additions is Discord Server Discovery. Communities won't have to rely on outside advertising to attract new members; instead, they'll be able to participate in Discord's newly-launched native server browser.
Servers added to this program will get a new personalized Welcome Screen and special Announcement channels. While Announcement channels already exist on many Discord servers, this new version will allow other servers to "follow" Community server Announcement channels and receive broadcasts. Simply put, these new Announcement channels will allow Community servers to expand their reach into other servers, too.
Server admins are also getting some more tools. A special new channel can be created which will directly pipe in updates from Discord to moderators. Server Insight will also be debuting as a new analytics program that gives you important data like member growth and interaction; these analytics will initially only be available to servers with 500 or more members, Partnered Servers, and Verified servers.
If you fall in one of the three qualifying categories, you can turn on Discord Communities in the new "Community" tab in your server settings. While Discord will still be used for loads of gaming communities, it's continuing to make moves to set itself up as something much more.
What do you think of Discord Communities? Do you think this chat program can expand beyond the realm of gaming? Let us know in the comments below!
