Discord's Design Encourages "Third Place" Social Media Experiences

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Discord can function as a virtual third place by applying Oldenburg's framework of eight third-place characteristics. Through 25 semi-structured interviews, the authors identify 21 design elements that align with these characteristics, forming a taxonomy organized around four design principles: providing themed spaces for repeated interactions, supporting autonomy and customization, facilitating mutually engaging activities, and enabling casual, low-pressure interactions. The findings show that Discord's space-based architecture—featuring open channels, pseudonymous identities, persistent servers, and activity signals—supports both dyadic and community-level relationship-building, offering an alternative design path for social platforms aiming to counteract social isolation. The study discusses implications for designing future social technologies that cultivate placeness, while acknowledging limitations and outlining directions for extending the taxonomy to other platforms and to emerging technologies such as VR.

Abstract

In light of the diminishing presence of physical third places -- informal gathering spaces essential for social connection -- this study explores how the social media platform Discord fosters third-place experiences. Drawing on Oldenburg's conceptual framework, we analyze how Discord's design elements support the creation of virtual third places that foster both dyadic and community-based relationships. Through 25 semi-structured interviews with active Discord users, we identified 21 design elements aligned with Oldenburg's third-place characteristics. These elements cluster around four core principles: providing themed spaces for repeated interactions, supporting user autonomy and customization, facilitating mutually engaging activities, and enabling casual, low-pressure interactions. This work contributes to understanding how intentional platform design can cultivate virtual spaces that support meaningful social connections. The findings have implications for designing future social technologies that can help address growing concerns about social isolation in an increasingly digital world.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Screenshot of Discord's Server Discovery Page.
• Figure 2: Mock-up Screenshots of Discord Features Around Rules and Roles: (a) Sectioned categories with channels; (b) Server entry regulation---a bot-managed system ensuring users accept rules before gaining full access. The screenshot displays the channel list after rule acceptance; (c) Self-assigned server roles---customizable tags that grant access to specific channels based on permissions. Roles can be hierarchical, allow users to hold multiple roles, be mentioned as a group, and view others by their roles; (d) User list organized by roles; (e) User profile displaying bio, roles, current activity status (e.g., the game they are playing and for how long), and a server-specific nickname
• Figure 3: Screenshot of Notification Settings for Discord's Official Discord Server.
• Figure 4: Mock-up Screenshots of Discord Features Around Conversation Support: (a) Soccer game streaming in the "game-field" voice channel; (b) Re-orderable server list---allows users to organize channels into folders based on custom topics; (c) Text chat window for a voice channel; (d) Public voice channel---users can join by clicking the channel, with visibility of current participants; (e) Music bot---users can activate a bot to play background music for everyone in the channel.
• Figure 5: Screenshots of Discord's Support for Visitors and Newcomers.