Microsoft Teams adds free communities feature to take on Facebook and Discord - The Verge

Microsoft is launching a new communities feature for Microsoft Teams today, designed for consumers to use the best parts of Teams free of charge to create and organize groups.

Microsoft has created a set of templates for Teams users to quickly create communities, and these groups will be limited to the free consumer version of Teams at launch today.

Microsoft Teams communities will require a Microsoft account, and groups can easily invite others to join with a link.

The launch of communities in Microsoft Teams comes nearly two years after Microsoft was in discussions to acquire Discord.

Communities in Teams could help solve a big gap for Microsoft, but it’s very early days and the feature set looks rather basic right now.

Unlike Discord, you can’t simply jump into a persistent call with your online group, and the communities feature in Teams appears to be more structured around a rigid form of organization.

Microsoft Teams users often complain of performance issues or the confusing aspects of the Teams consumer version built into Windows 11 and then having to launch a separate app to access the work / school version