In this series, we take a look at contemporary culture, providing a satellite view that connects the dots about consumer behaviour across markets, generations, and sectors – diving deep into how they are emerging, playing out, and changing in real-time.

This month we are looking at our Macro Behaviour World Builders, which highlights how people are coming together to construct meaningful collectives.

Across the world people, societies and whole nations are becoming fractured as deep divisions push people further apart than ever. Living within a seemingly endless series of crises, people are looking to forge meaningful connections, focusing on a sense of collectivism that directly contradicts the deep divides that dominate contemporary life.

With beloved platforms like Twitter subject to takeovers by polarising billionaires like Elon Musk, people are scrambling to find new homes online that better suit their desire for community. As people abandon the potentially sinking Twitter ship and hop on to alternate platforms like Mastodon and Koo, smaller and more niche communities are emerging that resonate with the growing number of people seeking solace in otherwise fractured digital spaces.

Some are even subverting the sadness and pain that they feel in the real world to create new aesthetics that they can take ownership of. On TikTok, the 'crying girl' make-up craze provides an example of this subversion, taking the traditionally problematic aestheticisation of female sadness and reappropriating it to be symbolic of a sense of support, community, and belonging. Rebelling against both stereotypical depictions of female grief, and the increasingly divisive nature of society, a sense of warmness sprung up – providing people with a safe space online to share not only their make-up looks but their feelings, too.

But it doesn't all have to be doom and gloom when it comes to online community creation, evident in the compelling story of the TikTok-based currency Dabloons. The complete antithesis of crypt-bro culture, Dabloons was an entirely fabricated online currency that lived on TikTok that saw the community grow, steal, and eventually crash the currency all within a couple of days. Contrasting the finance and gains-fuelled machismo all-too-often found in the crypto world, the fun and games-filled nature of Dabloons highlighted that despite the dire state of much of the world, online communities can still act as places for people to not take themselves too seriously and just have fun.

This longing for a sense of community is bleeding out into real life, too. Living in a post-pandemic world, many people have rallied against polarisation and are changing their behaviours to better serve their communities. In fact, one study found that nearly 70% of Gen Yers and Zers in Australia say that the pandemic 'inspired them to take action to improve their own lives', which has seen many act on desires to do more social good – in turn feeding into the communities that they’re a part of.

Even during the Qatar World Cup, there have been examples of people foregrounding community and belonging, directly contradicting the deeply controversial atmosphere surrounding the tournament. Whether that was Fonzies attempting to recruit the entire nation of Italy – who didn't qualify for the tournament – to support fan-lacking Canada, or Chelsea choosing to launch its content-creation partnership focused on diversity, community and connection have still shone through during the tarnished tournament.

A sense of community has probably never been as important as it is now, with people facing division everywhere they look. Brands that can provide platforms, spaces, and opportunities for a sense of connection will appeal to people looking to belong to something they believe in. Indeed, despite polarisation becoming more prominent, many people are still determined to find new spaces for novel and nuanced communities.