Engagement needs a reboot

Over the past few weeks I’ve been writing about music, but the underlying problem is bigger than any one sector.

When a platform optimises hard for convenience, the experience can flatten. Discovery becomes repetitive. Engagement becomes passive. The product gets efficient, but less meaningful.

Music streaming is a clear example of this.

Personalisation was meant to feel like magic. In practice, it often creates an echo chamber. You get the same artists, the same moods, the same safe recommendations. It’s easy, but it can stop feeling like discovery.

A better approach combines smarter machine learning with better product design. Not to serve “more of the same”, but to recognise when a user is open to something new. Mood, context, time of day, and lightweight prompts can help people step outside their default loop without friction.

The second lever is people.

Tastemakers and user-curated collections used to play a bigger role in discovery. They still exist, but they’re hard to find and rarely rewarded. Platforms could surface great curators, give them identity, and build lightweight incentives that encourage quality curation. It’s a simple way to bring back trust and serendipity.

The third lever is community.

Most streaming experiences are still solitary. Yet the strongest cultural moments are shared. The next wave of engagement will be shaped by social features that make participation natural, whether that’s co-creation, live interaction, fan-led spaces, or collaborative discovery.

Finally, superfans.

Every category has them. They want deeper involvement, status, and access. Gamification and participation mechanics create new ways to monetise without leaning only on ads or subscriptions. The opportunity is to move from “consumption” to “contribution”.

Put simply, engagement improves when platforms stop treating users as an audience and start treating them as participants.

If any of these ideas connect to challenges you’re working on, we’re always up for a conversation.