Digital Drinks as a form of Community Building.

We are only in the early stages of social distancing and self-isolation and managed to crash Instagram Live. Seriously!

Just last weekend, RnB star Tory Lanez, broke the Instagram live record by having 300k+ people tune in to what he dubbed “Quarantine Radio”. THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE!

Did you know that the smallest town in Britain has 850 people as its entire population?

So, in just a couple of hours, Lanez hosted the town of Llanwrtyd, 353 times! Mental.

The reality is that for the foreseeable future, digital is home.

So how are we adapting?

FAST.

We have been pushed to actualise a lot of the potential we saw in the digital space PRONTO. And have found that…maybe we didn’t need to be so afraid.

Today, Korukids are testing virtual nannies and are finding that…it’s working?

Brands like huggg have created ways that we can micro gift everything from school meals to a cup of coffee.

Health tech company Florence, has set up nationalcareforce.co.uk to connect social care providers with volunteers looking to help in this time.

And therapists… are making sure physical distance doesn’t impact mental health. Online therapy is not new, but right now, it’s holding up people new to therapy, who are finding isolation a terrible experience.

Real, honest responses, born from empathy and purpose.

Not all of us are going to need therapy to get through this, but we’re going to need people. As much as we love family and friends, part of what keeps us ticking is NEW conversation. Conversation with strangers that affirm, fuel and challenge us. It’s fundamental to our growth.

So, we created Fizzy Friday, our virtual end of the week drinks where we invite any and everyone to jump online, play games answer some interesting questions and do anything BUT talk about work or the virus.

It’s been perfect in getting us and a few others laughing into the weekend and making connections beyond the four walls of our homes and phonebooks. After only two weeks, we’ve managed to connect to people outside the UK and are excited to see how many towns we might have hosted by the end of social distancing.