The Pleasures and Passions of Building an Online Community With Soul
Emmy lives far from the rage and polarization of today’s online America, working as an eye clinic receptionist in a small town outside of St. Louis where she was born and raised. Like most regular people, she is more concerned with the pressures of daily life; from dealing with divorce, to learning to live alone for the first time, and trying to find enough time to spend with friends and family.
And yet Emmy has recently joined one of the fastest growing communities online, on an app called Spoon, and describes the experience as something totally different from anything else she has been able to find online.
The difference comes, ironically, from what Spoon lacks: a camera. Whereas most social networks rely primarily on video and imagery for their denizens to express themselves, Spoon has limited itself, deliberately, to sound only. Anyone can start broadcasting their voice on Spoon, regardless of how they look, how they are dressed, or where they find themselves.
“Ever since I was allowed to use the Internet as a kid, I would spend hours a day on YouTube watching Charlie the Unicorn, Jenna Marbles… I’ve seen YouTube change from that to people making careers out of it, so I always thought I’d love to do something like that! But I’ve always been insecure about the way I look, so I like not having to worry about that on here.” To Emmy, no camera makes all the difference.
When one sense is lost, others are heightened. By taking image out of the equation, Spoon is elevating people’s character. “It’s about your voice,” Emmy says, “and that’s very empowering.” It’s also very intimate: “In general, I’ve always tried to be really authentic on here. I talk about mental health a lot, and there’s a lot of personal stuff going on in my life that’s made Spoon really great for me…I even have had people just listening to me fall asleep in a live stream; it’s my new favorite thing to do!”
Early adopters of the app often use the phrase “Spoon Family” to describe the relationship between DJs and listeners, and this rings true for Emmy as well. At 26 years old, Emmy is older than many of her teenage listeners, many of whom have dubbed her “mom.” “It just sort of stuck,” Emmy says with a laugh.
This role comes with a certain responsibility: “There’s a lot of control you have as a DJ,” Emmy explains. “You can kick people out of your LIVE if they are being rude…and it’s empowering to know I can create whatever kind of space I want.”
The space Emmy creates in her nightly broadcasts is one where people feel comfortable sharing their personal stories, Emmy included. She explains that her most poignant moments on the app was when a user comes in who is clearly having a hard time, but leaves saying they feel a little better. “I tell everyone, ‘let’s make a blanket fort,’” Emmy explains.
Authenticity and social media traditionally don’t go hand-in-hand, but people clearly crave it. In less than a month, Emmy has gained over 3,000 fans on Spoon. They listen to her chat about her life, hang out with her friends, buy groceries, and even sleep, and likewise share their own thoughts. Describing this community, Emmy notes, “I feel like that didn’t exist on the Internet until Spoon.”
Spoon’s CEO, Neil Choi, repeatedly tells his employees that he wants to make Spoon into a place “that we would be proud for our grandparents and kids to hear.” It’s a different take on what many of Spoon’s competitors are trying to do in the world of video live streaming, where the titillating verges on the pornographic and there is a constant worry about whether it’s okay for young kids to watch the streams.
In a way, Emmy is the CEO of her own little online audio social network everytime she clicks on the “LIVE” button in the Spoon app. She gets to decide what she’ll say, what she’ll allow to be said, what constitutes Spoon Family behavior, and who gets to stay on.
