Once upon a time, we thought of websites as a mere means to an end. We would pick one of many search engines, find the information we needed, and then disappear back into the void.

Today, we’ve entered an age where we defer to a handful of websites and brands, building relationships and connecting with an age of digital culture that few saw coming. You might not have thought about it before, but looking through the popular lens of online casinos and sports, it’s possible to see why this relationship exists, and what this new form of relationship can bring.

An Approach on Many Fronts

For any website to succeed in a highly competitive pack, it needs to maintain old customers and draw in new faces. To this end, online casinos are some of the most adept at reaching into both sides of the spectrum. A popular example we’ve seen mentioned recently is the adoption of a daily free spin wheel for prizes like scratch cards, free spins on slots, and cash payouts. Though the success of these promotions will often cost the website money, they also reward the most important outcome: customer involvement.

Social Features

With a direct reason for customers to come in and stay, websites then move to more indirect means of fostering a culture around their service. How this is achieved depends on what the website offers. Some systems are only applicable to certain types of services, while others are broad enough to apply to practically every type of digital business.

From the online casino example, a big part of casino play, both online and in-person, is the cooperative and competitive spirit. This introduces challenges in the digital sphere thanks to player distance, but this issue is easily enough solved with chat rooms and site-wide tournaments.

In a more general sense, cultural connections have seen huge leaps forward thanks to the age of social media. The best brands on social media like Nike and GoPro don’t just use their presence to advertise, they use it to foster a community around their products. Nike isn’t just sportswear, it’s the idea of staying fit and doing your best, even against the odds. GoPro isn’t just a camera, it’s the go-to recording tool of extreme sports communities and talented physical entertainers. At least, that’s what the culture they’ve fostered would have the public believe.

Time and Effort

The kicker to building a successful long-term presence and online culture is that a website
can never rest on its laurels. Whether talking about online casinos, sports, search engines, or
video streaming services, it’s the constant push for new horizons and ideas that keeps a
business successful. Taking a look at a timeline of the most popular websites from 1996 to
2019 demonstrates just how many names have fallen by the wayside, and how far some
formerly tiny brands have come.

As we travel further into the 2020s, our reliance on the digital world is greater than ever
before. News, entertainment, education, communication, and exercise, all these aspects and
more find their home in the online space, so it’s only natural that culture would expand to encompass this reality. Love it or hate it, online is here to stay, and it plays a more important part in our lives than we can tend to appreciate.

Published by HOLR Magazine.