The third space of the internet

[Originally published on Cent]

I spent about 18 or so hours flying to the other side of the world yesterday.

My flight was great, but I basically passed out before I could write this last night, so that's why this post is a little late.

The other day I was scrolling through Twitter when a tweet from @devonzuegel caught my eye:

> Fortnite the new hangout spot, replacing the mall, Starbucks or just loitering in the city... It's become the coveted 'third place' for millions of people around the world.

Third space? That sounds interesting.

So I dug into the replies below the original tweet and came across this beautifully succinct video overview of that what 'third spaces' means by Sequoia Capital's Stephanie Zhan:

She describes "a shift from passive to active forms of entertainment" and "interactions with both hosts or posters and the greater community" as core aspects of so-called 'third spaces'.

Underlying that description of what third spaces are is the assumption that, at least today, most content is consumed passively or created without a strong expectation of active interaction.

There are myriad reasons why that's the case, but essentially it's because when it comes to active engagement or interaction, it's been super hard to figure out how to encourage *thoughtful* interactions or just any interactions at all. You either get trolled or you get ignored.

On Cent though, users are posting all kinds of different media from videos to podcasts, articles, blogs, memes and pictures and below those posts Centians are starting thoughtful conversations with the OP and with other Centians. That's the default Cent experience.

And that thoughtful interaction is *the* reason why I use Cent.

So that being said, Cent feels like it's starting to become the third space of the entire internet. At least that's how it feels to me. What about y'all?