"“I think belonging is trying to figure out ways for the audiences to feel heard and seen, to engage or learn more,” said Matt Adams, director of audience growth and engagement at The Texas Tribune. In other words, it is less about broadcasting and more about listening."
"“The name we originally planned was 'Ubuntu.' In South Africa, that's a word that sort of means 'community,' 'belonging,' or 'working together for the common good,'” explained Sarah Hoek, the Daily Maverick's community manager. They ended up calling it Connect instead (partly because a lot of other forums out there are also called “Ubuntu”), but “that was our mindset going into the project,” Hoek said. “Belonging is definitely something we are thinking about.”"
"Connect launched last fall and is hosted on the Daily Maverick's site - no Big Tech platforms here. “It's like the ultimate Facebook group, if all the cool Facebook groups were in one place,” Hoek said. (There are “hubs” for professional networking, home towns, and home hacks, for instance.) “That's the hope for Connect: that it's everything you need about life, work, the country, the news - all in one place.”"
Declining trust, unreliable social platforms, and reduced search traffic from AI summaries are pushing media toward deeper audience retention strategies. Belonging is framed as helping audiences feel heard and seen through listening, engagement, and opportunities to learn more. Daily Maverick uses this approach through Maverick Insider and a new platform, Daily Maverick Connect, centered on community. Connect is mostly open to anyone, encourages real-name participation, and includes some paid-member exclusives. The project’s original name, Ubuntu, reflects community and working together for the common good. Connect is hosted on Daily Maverick’s own site and organized into hubs for networking, hometowns, and practical topics, aiming to bring life, work, country, and news into one place.
Read at Nieman Lab
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