Forums are dying - well people have been saying that

I find it funny how there's so much crap going around on the web. Such as, people saying that forums are dying because social media is pivoting and bringing in more people than forums are.

But, the way I see it, forums will never die off. They're a core of of the internet just like social media is. And plus, if it wasn't for forum' popularity, I don't think we'd have so many social networking sites as is. Forums = connecting people who like a certain subject, or bringing friends together.

And, I've yet to see anyone come up with good reasons as to why they think forums are dying - only that Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are running the show. I beg to differ though.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe what I believe that forums will never die off?
Or are you in the same crowd as the others "Forums are dying" - yet, no signs on how we can save them... What idiots.

How about you?

 

I do see forums slowing down a bit. I'd blame that on social media like Facebook and Twitter. That being said I don't see forums dying off anytime soon.

Once you have a member that likes you're community they're going to keep coming back just like they do on Facebook unless something really turns them off.

 

I think forums may be lagging a bit only because of the hype over social networking sites right now. I've seen many people who decide they no longer want to deal with the frenetic pace of Facebook and Twitter. As time goes on, I believe more people will return to forums because you can have a real conversation and because they are a fantastic resource of past discussions.

 

Compared to what forums were like years ago, yeah, they're dying. I don't think they'll ever completely die, but they're certainly not nearly as popular as they used to be. And yes, that's partly due to a transition toward Facebook and whatnot instead.

 

People moved on clearly is the picture that you're telling me now. Sure, there's less forums because some people decided they didn't want to run a forum anymore. You have to take that on as well. And really, nobody is moving their discussion to Facebook. Facebook has different things to talk about, same with Twitter. Heck, you can make plenty of threads with the type of content you see on both networks.

Facebook = for friends = for businesses, not so much for people who are from the forum world - who are trying to have discussions with one another, on similar things.

If that's the case, then wasn't anyone saying shit when Myspace opened up and was running the game? Forum's death is because its owner doesn't want to work anymore, or its staff members. Thus, the land slide you're talking about.

Of course, people will always come back to forums, and talk about them. That is why the internet is so big today - look how many forums are out there, and how many sites are making "Forums" for their businesses. Quite frankly, I see the forum game rising - and past any modern day likes of Facebook/Twitter because really, I would say forums aren't competing against them in a sense because they drive in new members to your communities.

It's more of a platform - to grow your community if you know what you're doing and all, right?

 

Hey all,

@cpvr asked me to comment on this thread, so here I am. I get drawn into this topic somewhat frequently, so I can get a little fatigued by it. But, let's unpack it.

Forums are fine. They are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Hosting meaningful, deeply engaged conversation around specific topics of interest. Forums, in both the sense of structured communities like Admin Talk and forum-like functionality that exists in most meaningful social platforms, are everywhere. Threaded conversation is everywhere. Forums are social media, they aren't separated from it.

What you are seeing is natural platform diversification, not platform death. You are seeing tools that work better for different scenarios. Don't forget, internet adoption is still growing. In the U.S. and, certainly, internationally. More people, more needs, more tools. I don't even necessarily believe the idea that "forums" (as a whole) are less active than they used to be. Some forums are. Some forums are not. I believe there are more forums than ever before. More than anything else, you may be seeing people spread out.

Also, it's not an either/or situation. People use multiple tools for different reasons. Just because someone uses Facebook, doesn't mean they don't also use forums. People use Facebook and Twitter to connect with individuals, primarily. They visit forums and structured communities to connect around topics.

You can use Facebook for that, but it depends on where you are and who you are connected to. Writing 200 words on Facebook feels like an essay. Writing 200 words on a forum doesn't. Forums are where people deeply and passionate engage around a specific interest. That isn't going away and it's not losing importance.

Thanks,

Patrick

 

I think niche plays a part in it too, at least that's what I've seen from my own experiences. It seem that there are some topics that naturally fit well with Myspace & Facebook, while others don't.

 

Except they did. On Facebook, you can link to ANY subject or strike up conversation about just about anything... you don't have to go to a single niche forum for discussion on it.

I will agree that some people are still going to go to forums because they prefer that format. You see fewer and fewer 'new forum goers', though, because they're starting off on other social networks that are more mainstream first.

 

I kind of agree with your thoughts here but Facebook is transient. There are no 'permalinks' for an individual discussion. Given enough activity or time it falls off the page sure you can hit view more again and again but after a while it's pretty much buried in FBs database.

Twitter is pretty much the same although they have permalinks for Tweets but have you ever tried to follow a long tail discussion on Twitter? It's not easy.

As for forums if you link to a thread today, 5 years from now it's going to be there in the same familiar structured format and maybe even have up to date information.

Personally, I fear the day the Facebook makes it groups more forum with topics, topics within topics, and a viable reply node instead of the one size fits all comment system which doesn't work well for Groups...Individual forums as we know them will be in real trouble.

 

People are full of it. How would the forums end? How will people be able to ask the necessary question then? Facebook and Twitter will not be anywhere near on the scale of forums.

 

Niche communities seem to be the ones growing the most. Like webmaster forums/admin forums, gaming communities, etc. The fact that a lot of these niche forums seem to get bought out by bigger companies tell you something as well. Work hard, expect success in the forum game especially if your community is full of content that people enjoy.

@Dan Hutter That's so true especially when a certain hash tag on Twitter is going strong. You will have to use a good client to follow the discussions or you'll miss a lot. Twitter isn't really good for discussions like that, nor is Facebook and I agree. I was surprised when Myspace had its own forum but it was really full of spam, now if Facebook came out with their own? That would be something to be debated as well. The thing is, I don't see either networks has being competitors for anyone because you can use both networks to your advantage, and grow your communities' appeal.

Well said @iFroggy

This, we all know what's going on with Yahoo answers. So many damn questions, and useless answers there. But, you know what? See a good question for your community? Take the question and spring a good thread out of it. Yet, another platform.

 

Oh I agree! It's one of the main reasons I continue to use forums anyway. But that is not what most people are actually after any more. They don't want to continue the same conversation 5 years from now. Heck, they don't even want to continue it later on today. Once it's done, it's done, and it doesn't matter that others didn't see it or join in, etc. It's way more about instant gratification for most folks now, it seems.

 

well they are not dying, they think they are dying, but the forum software devs are trying as much as possible to bring forum software closer to the social industries like facebook, twitter. It's a slow process which is why it looks like it's dying. I mean look at vBulletin they are practically almost there. Though they have slowdown issues and a few bugs from their new version. IPB is trying to head towards the Business/Social Network industries. With their new version coming out they will be even closer to their goal.

 

Forum are NOT as popular as they once were. I see it myself as a forum owner in the past 10 years. People do have other sites to 'hang out' and starting a forum is HARD. On the other hand there's still a market for this and people (such as ourselves) who consider forums to be an important part of one's online 'life', when you're looking for information or a place to hang out with other people who love that niche.

 

Forums are different than they were some years ago, but certainly not dying. It seems every niche is more saturated, so starting a forum from scratch is quite a bit more work to get it self-sustaining.... but you could make that argument when we started our forum 8 years ago. We didn't actually WANT to start a forum (in fact I put it off as long as I could), but we needed a support venue for our existing users of our products/tools. On top of it, there were a ton of already well established forums in our niche... SitePoint, V7N, WebmasterWorld, Webmaster Talk, SEO Chat, (and about 15 others).

The difference is we were offering something unique to users that they couldn't get anywhere else (for example, I was the one that "invented" the entire concept of AdSense revenue sharing a couple months after opening): http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=519 A few months after that, the idea to feed in "Recent Blog Entrys" that has become so popular these days: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2513

And over the years, we've kept making new things that people can't get anywhere else:

http://tools.digitalpoint.com/tracker
http://tools.digitalpoint.com/phonehome
http://advertising.digitalpoint.com/
http://marketplace.digitalpoint.com/
etc...

So no... forum aren't dying, but the same marketing rules apply to all sites (including forums). If you aren't offering anything unique that people want, why are they going to use your site?

 

I disagree...

Facebook and all those are good for two things... business/organization/event/site promotion and connecting with close friends and family.

Forums are about building a community with different kinds of people from all over the place. If I have a question about something specific, I'd go join a niche forum and ask it before I'd ask it on FB knowing that only 2 or 3 people may know and then wondering if they check my status updates... No I think forums are far from being dead.

 

I agree with you 100% forums have been gaining a lot of traction over the past few years. It'll keep on climbing as more people come online and look to forums for answers. Google is good at sending people to forums especially when you're ranking high. Anyone remember Yahoo answers? That place is full of shit, but people still use it to find answers, and all. It's like a forum community in itself, but without the forum layouts and all that.

 

I don't see no issues, my forum grows anywhere from 3 to 6% a month.

 

I don't think forums will die. We have a huge need for [online] forum communities to facilitate talks of all subjects that we're interested in. There will always be a need for a "gathering" platform to talk, and exchange ideas...