By Keila Doyle, Founder of Golffily
For years, digital platform growth was treated as a numbers game: downloads, clicks, impressions, active users and acquisition costs. The logic was simply to get people onto the platform, keep them moving through the funnel and hope the product was useful enough to bring them back. That model is becoming weaker, particularly in the Middle East. The region is no longer in the early stage of digital adoption. In the UAE, DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report stated that there were 11.3 million internet users at the end of 2025, with internet penetration standing at 99%. The UAE was also home to 12.5 million social media user identities in October 2025, equivalent to 110% of the population, reflecting the intensity of multi-platform digital behaviour. Saudi Arabia tells a similar story with a report that found 34.4 million internet users in the Kingdom at the end of 2025, with internet penetration also at 99%. It also recorded 38.6 million social media user identities, equivalent to 111% of the population. These numbers matter because they show that the next stage of platform growth in the Middle East will not be driven simply by getting more people online. Most people already are. The real challenge is how do platforms make users return, participate, recommend, transact and stay.
That is where community is becoming the real growth engine. Community is often treated as a soft marketing idea, but for digital platforms, it is increasingly a commercial structure. A strong community turns users from passive consumers into active participants. They create content, share recommendations, answer each other’s questions, build trust, provide feedback and bring others in. In other words, they help the platform grow from the inside. This is particularly relevant in the Middle East, where trust, relationships and word-of-mouth have always played a powerful role in how people discover products, services and opportunities. Digital behaviour may have evolved, but the underlying human behaviour has not disappeared. People still want to know what others think, trust recommendations from people they relate to and want to feel that a brand or platform understands their context, culture and needs. The difference now is that this trust is being scaled digitally.
The rise of social commerce is one clear signal. The UAE social commerce market is projected to grow from US$3.21 billion in 2024 to US$6.41 billion by 2030, driven by smartphone usage, e-commerce integration and platform-led purchasing behaviour. Across the wider Middle East, social commerce is also growing strongly, with market reports estimating the sector reached US$9.92 billion in 2025. This points to a broader shift that content, commerce and community are no longer separate lanes. They are increasingly part of the same growth loop. A consumer may discover a product through a creator, validate it through peer comments, ask questions in a group, see user-generated content, and then make a purchase directly through a platform. The transaction is commercial, but the decision is social.
This is why platforms that invest only in acquisition risk building shallow audiences rather than durable ecosystems. Paid ads can bring users in, influencers can create visibility, features can solve a practical problem, but community gives people a reason to stay. That distinction is becoming more important as digital categories become crowded. In fintech, wellness, education, fitness, beauty, travel, food delivery, real estate, gaming and founder-focused platforms, features are often easy to copy. However, trust is harder to replicate. A competitor can build a similar tool, but it cannot instantly recreate the relationships, conversations, identity and behavioural habits that form around a strong community. The strongest platforms will also be the ones that understand what their users are trying to become, not just what they are trying to buy. A golf app, for example, is not only selling score tracking. It is selling progress, confidence and connection. A financial wellbeing platform is not only offering tools. It is helping people feel more informed and less alone. A founder platform is not only offering networking. It is creating access, visibility and momentum. This is where the community becomes commercially valuable. It creates emotional and practical reasons to return. It gives users status, support, recognition and accountability. It also gives platforms better feedback loops. When users are actively engaged, platforms can understand pain points faster, test ideas more effectively and turn customer behaviour into product intelligence.
However, it is important not to romanticise the community. A WhatsApp group is not automatically a community, nor is a follower count, or a comments section. Many brands use the word because it sounds warm, but real community requires design, moderation, consistency and value exchange. For platforms, the question should not be, “How do we build a community?” It should be, “What value can our users create for each other that makes the platform stronger?” That value could take many forms, from peer advice, product reviews, founder referrals, and local recommendations, to creator-led education, challenge-based engagement, user-generated content, member-only access, accountability groups or even feedback circles. The format matters less than the function but a real community helps users solve a problem, feel part of something relevant, and see value in returning.
This is why a community should now be seen as part of a growth strategy. It can reduce acquisition costs by increasing referrals, improve retention by making users feel invested, strengthen trust by giving customers visible proof from other customers, create content at scale and make platforms more resilient because users are connected to more than the product itself. The platforms that win the next phase will not necessarily be the ones with the most features or the loudest campaigns. They will be the ones that understand that growth is no longer just about acquiring users but about activating them. In the Middle East, community is not replacing technology. It is making technology feel human, trusted and worth returning to. And in a region where everyone is already online, that may be the difference between a platform people try once and a platform they build into their lives.
