Discord promotes Nitro subscriptions with social server boosting

Social boosting is one of mobile gaming’s most powerful strategies to earn money. The idea is that a boost is more powerful as more people purchase it. This social pressure encourages friends to work together and spend money. And now, a popular communication app for gamers is implementing something similar with Discord Nitro server boosting.

With this feature, members can choose to boost one server per month. And as more people add their boost to that server, the more features they unlock for everyone else.

The benefits come in three tiers, and here’s how they break down:

• Level 1
  • Requires two boosts
  • Adds 50 new emoji slots
  • Improves audio quality to 128 Kbps
  • Custom background
  • Animated server icon
• Level 2
  • Adds 100 emoji slots
  • 256 Kbps audio
  • Server banner
  • Increases upload limit to 50MB non-Nitro members
• Level 3
  • Adds 200 emojis
  • 384 Kbps audio
  • Increases upload limit to 100MB for non-Nitro members
  • Vanity URL

These are all pretty significant improvements. They are also the kinds of things that a tight-knit, active Discord community might care about. If you are in a server every night, you probably want higher-quality audio. And if you are always adding new people, a vanity URL could make it easier to send out invites.

Peer pressure

Server boosting is just the latest feature to join Discord Nitro. The service also enables people to add an animated icon or to share emojis between different servers. And in October, Discord added a library of more than 80-plus games for Nitro subscribers.

While all of those features are appealing in their own way, server boosting seems more in line with how Discord works. For many communities, Discord is at the center of how they interact and socialize. Giving people a way to improve their group’s experience by working together could lead to many more Nitro subscriptions.