Apr 23, 2024 23:00:00

Discord CEO Jason Citron discusses the importance of a 'small, private internet' in an interview

When the communication tool '

Discord ' was first released in 2015, it was mainly used by people who played online games, but in recent years it has become widely used not only by gamers but also by close friends and communities with the same hobbies. The overseas media The Verge has published an interview with CEO Jason Citron about the current situation and challenges of Discord.

Discord CEO Jason Citron on why gaming and group chats are the future of the internet - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/24134914/discord-ceo-gaming-chat-teens-safety-moderation-decoder-interview

Below are excerpts from The Verge's interview with CEO Citron:

The Verge:
Discord started as a voice chat for gamers and has grown into a place where people come together to talk to each other. Where do you see Discord today?

Citron CEO
I think Discord is a place for people to talk and hang out with friends online.

The Verge:
When I spoke to Slack's former CEO, Stewart Butterfield, I asked him, 'Do you think Discord is a competitor to Slack?' and he replied, 'Absolutely not. Slack is enterprise software.' I found this to be true, but the idea that Slack is enterprise and Discord is consumer has become quite blurred since then. I know businesses that not only run on Discord, but also interact with their communities and customers on Discord. Has the line between Slack and Discord become blurred for you?

Citron CEO
People use Discord in a variety of ways, and many businesses are using it as a new way to communicate with their passionate fans online. We support that, but most people who use Discord are part of small, invite-only groups called 'servers' where people meet with their acquaintances and friends. These are places like dorm common rooms or living rooms where people hang out with the people they know.

The Verge:
The word server suggests control to the user, but Discord is a platform with an app store built in and cutting edge user interfaces like Midjourney. The right of control goes back and forth between the user and Discord, and users may do inappropriate things with Discord. How do you feel about that tension?

Citron CEO
We're focused on creating tools that let people design their own spaces, and that's been the intention of Discord from the beginning. We've always had an ethos of giving users control over their spaces. What's cool about this is that we found people wanted to customize the service and connect it to other services around the world, so we expanded that to allow them to customize Discord by connecting our API and bot platform. That user control and open ethos is what's allowed things like Midjourney to flourish. There are over 500,000 apps on Discord that people have built and that are used across our entire user base. This is a really intentional stance to create the conditions for exciting things to happen.

The Verge:
For example, let's compare Discord to Reddit. Reddit is another huge platform that is driven by the community, and there's a tension between what the community wants and what Reddit wants. Were there any moments when you had to do what was necessary, even though you knew it would upset the platform or the community?

Citron CEO
One of the fundamental differences between Discord and Reddit is that Discord is a group chat app for friends, rather than a public space like Reddit with moderators and user-generated content. We don't think of Discord as a platform for user-generated content.

I think of Discord as a communications app, a group chat app. When we look at where our users spend their time, most of them are in invite-only group chats or voice chats with friends messaging, playing games, or talking about their day. Users may also explore other spaces that interest them and join larger communities, and some really love that part of the service, but Discord is a communications tool.

The Verge:
Does Discord see the potential for bots to interact with users through text, or is it focused on Discord as a chat app?

Citron CEO
Our thoughts and vision for Discord really comes back to how people spend time with their friends. The idea when I started the company in 2012 was that video games were going to become more and more of a form of entertainment and more and more social. Our vision for the future is a world where people can have really rich shared experiences and spend quality time with their friends wherever they are in the world. We think the bot platform is important, so we're evolving it to include built-in experiences. But there's a need to move away from the performative stuff that we often see and have more intimate, welcoming spaces where people can spend quality time with their friends. We're focused on creating welcoming spaces where people can talk to their friends, hang out with them, and deepen their friendships.

The Verge:
2024 is the year of the US presidential election, and the influence of social media on young people and how to manage it are themes. On the other hand, you say that the internet should return to smaller, more fragmented, acquaintance-based interactions rather than the huge social media platforms that define culture. How satisfied are you with this policy?

Citron CEO
I don't think it's an either/or situation between the small internet and the big social media platforms, and I think social media has done a lot of great things. Fifty years from now, the question of what value social media brings and how to manage its negative aspects will continue, but I think social media platforms will be here to stay for the long term. What we're seeing with Discord is that people understand that public social media is interesting, but they want something else: a cozy space where they can relax and spend time with their acquaintances and friends, even if they can't be in the same physical space.

The Verge:
Looking at Discord today, which part do you think is growing faster? The small, cozy space, or the place where crypto startups can talk to their customers?

Citron CEO
This is a small, cozy space, and it's actually the fastest growing part. What's interesting to us is that the smaller spaces are less known because they're not as public. Cryptocurrency and AI are big areas, so a lot of people are drawn to them and join Discord, but at the end of the day, it's the people who join with their friends or find friends who love it the most. It's ultimately a place for them to meet and keep in touch with other people online.

In the interview, CEO Citron also spoke about the company's decision to lay off 170 employees, or 17% of its total workforce; monetization through new paid game promotions and its traditional subscription plan (Nitro); his thoughts on protecting teenagers; and the closure of the Nintendo Switch emulator servers , so be sure to check it out if you're interested.

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