# It's all about people

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly), 2014-02-22

active-users, apps, architect-this-city, blogging, cities, city-building, comments, community, entrepreneur, facebook, neighborhoods, people, platforms, technology, uncategorized, whatsapp

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Yesterday evening I met up with a talented Toronto-based technology entrepreneur who also happens to be passionate about cities. The conversation meandered between both worlds, but we ended up coming back to one central theme: It’s all about people.

Facebook didn’t just buy WhatsApp for the technology. [It spent $19 billion on almost half a billion _active users_](http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/2/19/whatsapp-and-19bn). That’s what matters. Do people want to occupy your (real or virtual) space? Have you created a community? Whether it’s an app, a building or a neighborhood, you’re useless without engaged participants.

And to be perfectly honest with you, that’s my ultimate goal for this blog. Ideally I’d like each and every post to inspire conversation and debate ([just like this one did on gentrification](http://brandondonnelly.com/post/77176340213/is-gentrification-really-the-problem)). A one-sided conversation can only take you so far. The real value happens within communities.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly/its-all-about-people)*