Most/least essential social additions to predominantly non-social apps?
SoundCloud went live 18 years ago as a launchpad for independent artists to share their music. Now, it’s adding more tools for listeners to share what they’re into.
The music streaming app, which ranks above streaming stalwarts Pandora and Apple Music in terms of monthly average users, introduced new social features on Thursday, including:
“Liked By Your Crew”: a daily playlist based on what your friends (or the artists you follow) like
“Trending Trackwall”: similar to X’s “What’s happening”
Recommendations of users to follow
Spotify, which once upon a time made noise about buying SoundCloud, amped up its own social features just a few months ago when it began allowing subscribers to direct message each other.
It’s not like either streaming app is turning up the social element to 11. Users are still going there for the music…but the tweaks could make it a little easier for communities to form around shared fandom.
I'm curious: What are your favorite social add-ons to predominantly non-social apps? And your least?
Replies
CalPulse
I enjoy social features that make apps more fun while still respecting my privacy. It’s really annoying when apps keep asking for access to my contacts or networks to share my activities to my friends or families. It feels intrusive and goes against my privacy... :)
@peilan_qin I hear that. Especially because my contacts list has both my closest family and people I met at a party 15 years ago. I don't really care so much about connecting with the latter.
IXORD
For music, it is useful to have many tools that help the user with sorting or in other situations. I stopped using SoundCloud back in 2018 because I couldn’t find original music there. Everything was just remixes :/
That’s such an interesting question — it’s a fine line between “enhancing community” and “cluttering the core experience.”
Most essential:
Collaborative playlists (Spotify) — simple but powerful. It deepens engagement without forcing social behavior.
Notion’s shared workspaces/comments — social enough to drive collaboration, but not distracting.
Figma multiplayer mode — technically “social,” but feels like a natural extension of how the product is used.
Least essential:
Forced feeds or activity tabs in tools like productivity or finance apps — they often feel misplaced.
In-app chats that duplicate what Slack or Discord already do — just extra noise.
The best “social layers” usually amplify the product’s native use case instead of trying to compete with social networks.
Curious — do you think SoundCloud’s new direction will genuinely build community or just mimic the social feed trend?
@damera_prithvi I think SoundCloud's just kinda layering in some social elements but I don't see it building community. I'd venture to say web3 protocols are doing more of the experimentation on that front because you can build a community-oriented app on someone else's music protocol.
Triforce Todos
Big fan of when platforms lean into community without losing their core.
@abod_rehman Who do you think has done that well?
I think the most useful social add-ons are ones that feel natural and add value, like collaborative playlists on music apps or commenting on recipes in cooking apps.
The least useful are often forced features, like posting your workout stats publicly when most people just want to track for themselves—it feels more like noise than value.
It’s all about whether the social layer enhances the core experience or distracts from it.