The Ka-Ching Community Era

The Monetisation of "Community": When Connection Comes With a Price Tag

Alright, let’s cut the crap and get real. “Community” was once a word that made you feel all warm and fuzzy but is now being auctioned off like a secondhand couch on Facebook Marketplace. And I’ve had enough.

I’m Dani Tillett, founder of The Ripe Idea, and I actually give a damn about people and the power of human connection. It’s something I spruik to my clients constantly - Be YOU. Be authentic. Be messy. Forget to post at 10am every day if you like, just be YOU! Why? Because genuine humans want to connect with genuine humans. Well, at least, I thought they did.

This past year, I’ve been trying to help promote some genuinely worthwhile community events, not spam, not pyramid schemes, not dodgy lead generation platforms - actual stuff that supports, educates, and helps people - people in our community helping people in their community. But what happens? BLOCKED. DELETED. SILENCED. Why? Because we didn’t pay up.

Yep. That’s the new norm. Pay. To. Play.

But first, let’s remind ourselves: what is community, anyway?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it’s “the people living in one particular area or people who are considered as a unit because of their common interests, social group, or nationality.” Sounds wholesome, doesn’t it?

Then along came Facebook (or Meta, as they now call themselves) to digitally reinvent “community.” Their mission? “To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” Cute. But here's the thing, Zuck: if people need a bloody debit card just to participate, your mission’s already failed.

Have community groups on social media BECOME local media?

Traditional media lost its way a long time ago. The days when you could send out a simple media release about a local event or story about someone or a business in the community doing cool shit and see it published? Gone. Dead. Buried next to the last truly independent newsroom. Yeah, I said it!

Now, it’s all about the dollar. Stories aren’t picked up because they’re important, they’re picked up IF someone’s got a budget for editorial and ad space. You’re not declined because your story isn’t relevant or newsworthy. You’re declined because you didn’t come with a credit card.

So what happens next? People turn to community groups, Facebook pages, local threads, grassroots collectives, because they feel more human. More accessible. Closer to real life. And for a while, they were. But now even those digital “community spaces” are starting to look a hell of a lot like old-school media: Pay-to-play, ad-driven, and ruled by invisible gatekeepers.

Let’s talk about what’s really going on

In Australia, over 24% of people still rely on Facebook to connect with each other, which means local groups have become the digital town square. (Source: Meltwater). Granted this % is lower than I thought it would be which makes me happy!

But now, these "community" groups, and I use that term loosely, are charging local businesses and organisers just to share a post. And I’m not talking about serial advertisers clogging up your feed with 2-for-1 dog wash deals. I’m talking about one meaningful, relevant post, like an event bringing awareness and education to something nearly every woman will go through.

And the kicker? Some town and region groups have gone full dictator mode, banning entire business accounts from groups simply for trying to post once. No warning. No chat. Just boom, you’re out “How very dare you use my oh-so-precious community group to promote your local community based business that could in any way benefit my local community?” Yeah, I am baffled too!

Let’s call it what it is: monetised gatekeeping of connection.

Now look, I get it.

Community groups don’t want to be overrun with “come try my cupcakes” posts and pesky MLMers. We don’t want spam either. That’s why “Promo Mondays” or “Small Biz Saturday” threads exist and I agree with them. But when a well-intentioned, non-salesy post about a community-first event that isn’t making any money, being run by people working for free gets nuked because someone didn’t cough up the cash? That’s not moderation. That’s profiteering.

A “friend” once said to me “when I meet people, I see dollar signs and I think ‘right what can I sell them?’, I love it” WOW mate! WOW. I hate this so much! It makes me sad. Is this the society we have built? Humans looking to profiteer from one another faking connections so can make money? Yuk!

We’ve become so obsessed with monetising every interaction that we’ve completely lost the damn plot. Not everything should come with a bloody price tag. Sometimes, sharing something because it helps someone should be enough. Call me old-fashioned, but if we can’t do that anymore, we’re not building communities, we’re just running marketplaces with a huge serve of ego.

So I’m asking the question no one else seems to want to ask:

When did we start putting price tags on community?
When did helping people, educating people, and connecting people become something you need a f***ing budget for?

This isn’t an isolated case. This is about all the incredible humans in our towns and cities trying to do good - health workers, educators, solo mums starting side hustles, artists, local businesses navigating challenging landscapes.

Are we really okay with telling them to piss off unless they pay?

If that’s the kind of community we’re building, then maybe it’s time to burn it down and start again.

Final thought:

If you’re a community group admin charging people to share helpful, community-based info, then be honest with yourself: did you build that community because you cared about the people in it? Your neighbours? Your friends? Local small businesses that deserve locals support? Or are you just another self-appointed gatekeeper, running a glorified vending machine in a digital town square?

Because let’s be real, this isn’t moderation. This is monetised exclusion. And if your version of “community” only serves those who can pay to be seen, then you’ve completely missed the point. You’re not protecting the people, you’re profiting off them.

Community is meant to lift people up, not lock them out. So ask yourself: are you part of the solution, or part of the problem? Because right now, it’s looking a hell of a lot like the latter.