I think Discord has a lot going for it as a way to help people keep connected.   Versatile, with real-time chat, threaded conversations and forum-style areas all possible Allows for group watching of things like games with voice or text chat Much more robust set of emoji reactions Free, and we don't have to worry about hosting or ads (at least for now)   Setting one up to properly handle a community of this size would take time, but might be worth it