How to join a new online community

Recently I have gotten into roller skating. Yes, rollerskating. I saw a video of a girl dancing as she skated and I wanted to be able to do that so I hopped online and ordered a pair. I must say, it's a great lockdown hobby, I have mainly been skating around my kitchen but I have ventured outside and immediately regretted it.

Make a youtube channel if the community is big on the site
I thought the best way to learn was to get tips from experienced skaters. but that would mean getting into an online community. I thought the best way to do this was to join the youtube community first, so I made a side account under an alias to follow and post about skating. although this venture has been good, I haven't joined a community there. It seems like there isn't a big UK skate scene. so I looked at other avenues.

Join a subreddit - there's one for everything
Reddit. I have never thought about using Reddit before as all I really know it from is youtube videos reading outrageous stories posted on the site or random subreddits dedicated to outrageous topics. But I knew that there was most likely a subreddit about skating. so I took a deep breath and made an account and found one immediately. I posted a little 'hi I'm new what are good tips' comment on the page and I was greeted with some really good tips that actually got me moving finally and a lot of warmth from the community. Now I'm on the discord server where I can scroll through hundreds of tips for when I actually get out and about.

INSTAGRAM - utilize tags
under my alias name, I made an Instagram page to link to my channel and the beauty of Instagram is TAGS. I tag my skates and use the word skating as a tag to be seen and contacted by other skaters. I go through the tags to see the progress others are making and all in all, I've had a good time finding a community on it. I was even noticed by one of my favourite LA skaters.

I'm sure if you took to Facebook or twitter you'd be able to find ways to join an online community of your choosing but these are the ways I have found it easiest to join one. I highly recommend Reddit.

In conclusion. Have a look on obvious sites, you will find something.