Is Twitter killing forums?
 

Since the dawn of Twitter, my site has seen a downturn in people visiting, I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone else or whether people just don't like my site lol.

From my point of view a lot of gamers have moved to twitter to communicate with each other and tend to socialize and organize gaming events on the fly, which admittedly seems a lot easier than the forums.

Don't get me wrong, we have used twitter as our advantage too for front page hits (which we probably would have never had before but from a forum point of view people are twittering instead of hitting the forums).

What do you guys think?
Chris

I don't usually have posters who can fit their tales in 140 characters. I've seen a downturn in recent times, though I don't advertise and I've not seen any major influx from links (OMG LOOKIT THIS types) for a fair while.

I think social networking has caused quite a bit of loss, all done and said, from the forum style. It's a different animal catering to different needs.

Rapscallion

I think Facebook has affected us. Greatly.

Twitter, no... lets face it Twitter is crap !

Nope, I dont think Twitter, or Facebook have had any real effect on the use of any forum im a staff member of.

Most of my guests are from twitter and facebook

Twitter helps me with my website :D

I was thinking once you have the new generation and old ,figuring out how to use face book or we call them facebook generation and they take the time to get to know how the system works ,can you persuade them to go to a VB site. now i am new at this and i am also wondering is VB 4 new designed was intended to head towards a social networking something like facebook script or social engine script. I upgrade to 4 because i had a license (3.8) already and i am starting a new project but i have to admit i am a bit concerned about trying to get people to come to my Site i don't know even if i could call it a forum anymore with the new version even though it is a forum i just renamed it a Lounge just to create a bit of a new interest. even if you create a group on face book and you have the discussion section on each group you will see 9 out of 10 there are no discussions there. Has people forgotten how to communicate on a general basis. But there is a big difference on a forum like a technical forum and then discussions are flying. So i don't even have any members on my site i don't even quit know how all the interaction works on VB4 maybe i should join somebody's forum just to get an idea, i kind of jumped into this to fast i think. My site is to work around a game that is separated and not inter-graded into the forum except user and passwords. but i could of done the same thing with social engine. but what really help is that you cannot get all the cool mods like you can here. Thanks to all by the way for your hard work. This is verry interesting reading here
:)

If your forum was essentially a massive shoutbox then yes, Twitter will kill it (and it would deserve to kill it). Forums are discussion hubs. Twitter and Facebook are not.

Saying that, there are forums that FB, Twitter and 1,001 other sites will rightfully kill off. This isn't because FB or Twitter are in competition with forum owners rather some forum owners being in competition with FB and Twitter.

Visitors time and attention spans are finite. The number of sites vying for visitors attention is growing. The more time visitors spend on other sites the less time they have for yours.

If your site sucks and doesn't offer any interesting focus, discussion or community then I think you're probably screwed. Gone are the days where you could substitute quality content with a points system to buy members "beer.gif" or an arcade leaderboard as a method to hold a visitors attention span.

If visitors want little games (distractions) then FB or several other billions of sites will grab your visitors attention far better than mods will. Forums relying on irrelevant whistles and bells, Forums not playing to their USP (community & discussion centred around a niche subject) are doomed.

If you are a community of Widget lovers, then focus on content and discussions about widgets. Everything else just works against you.

*before I get flamed, I am sure the arcade works on many sites where it is relevant. Maybe even some where it isn't. But FWIW, I don't see many big boards ( > 1m posts) with leaderboards and points systems anymore. I see big boards dedicated to discussions.

Verry Good point about a general gaming site. My site is a real time game and real players .person to person, the forum is just a gathering place where instructions will be how to play plus strategies but the game is played out there in the real world and the other part of my site is a monitoring system and score . so this i why i went with vb because i think social network sites would not really give a focus point, players would be all over the place like facebook. next thing i know they will be growing pigs and tomatoes on my site lol. it is great to here different point of views . But i am starting to feel that i am the strange one out there, i really feel twitter is completely useless but the site is growing . i think texting is a stupid idea but yet every kid on the block just has to do it and the parents are just as bad and i have witness what really goes on and it is just like twitter with the small amount of information given out ,well why don't you just pick up the phone and talk to the guy or girl and get together something like that . This is one big question about what i want to do. the game requires for you to go out of your home loll. I have to fine that crowd that likes being an adventurist and is not afraid of using a new system. where most finally gave in and joined facebook becouse all there friends said they where on it.

Maybe just my site then haha.

it's interesting to hear people's experiences.

@The Geek, no flaming here my friend - I'm actually going to agree with you full-heartedly.
The problem with gaming websites is the fact there are so many, as you said - people's time is finite and you have to try and get their time.

I think people are still having conversations on my forums about general stuff in regards to gaming, but in the past people would come on and say 'check out this gaming video' etc and post the video. That has now moved to twitter as it is easier and potentially get more of a reaction on a quicker time scale.

As for facebook, I'm not a big fan - I haven't seen any major results in getting people from there. At the end of the day you probably are marketing your site to people who probably not that interested (ie if you own a site of VB etc how many people are really gonna be checking out your facebook page?).

I have had more signups from my podcast than any other media (of course getting the podcast to a place to do that is not an easy task at all), but it really is a strong place to get people to come to your site.

Certainly twitter helps my front page a lot - we had a story last week that got picked up around the web and then put on twitter and the combined lot got us 30,000 hits in a day and half (actually killed the site). So it is definitely useful and shouldn't be ignored at all but I find general chatter is down on my boards (just a little, but enough to notice).

Decrease in general chatter does make sense, but I would wager that is symptomatic of forums not being the easiest avenue for general chatter any more. Twitter and FB are far better at that sort of thing, but they suck at discussions (especially niche).

So - I guess it makes sense that if your ratio of banter to niche content is heavy on the chatter side, then you will be adversely affected by the rise of better outlets for that. My site hasn't been hindered - we've grown (but we've always been niche content driven).

Funny thing about FB is that you have to already be a friend of someone before you can discuss anything with them and Twitter only lends itself primarily as a one-way 140 character shoutbox and the only people that can listen have to already be following you!

Now, gaming forums are a saturated "niche" area and sadly a dime a dozen. Seems like the key sticking power are in community "factions". I really don't know what the answer for that type of site is however I would be far less worried about FB and Twitter and more worried about some of the other "big boys" that operate forum discussions, reviews, etc... I would find/create a USP/angle and just stick to it.

When was the last time you went on Twitter/FaceBook (FB) for your daily round of knowledge (articles)?

It's where everyone goes for gossip and to find out what's currently new. People don't visit these sites to learn about their favorite subjects.

If your site is suffering from Twitter/FB it's because you don't offer fresh content - such as having great discussions, How-To tutorials, downloads, articles, etc.

Compounding this is the lack of usability on most sites - Twitter/FB is 10x more user-friendly than most sites.

How easy is it to find fresh content on your site? Do you provide your readers a list of new titles or do you expect the reader to do all of the work?

Do you know your registration conversion rate? I bet it's low.
How do you expect to succeed when conversion rate is so low?


If you REALLY want to succeed you need to start focusing on content and usability.

• Fresh content helps drive traffic to your site.
• A user-friendly site makes it easier for your visitors to find what they want; register, and participate.

I used to tweet and I had about 800 followers and I found It did really nothing. I also have to measure energy = the worth. I even had a facebook page I would do daily updates. I was even giving free advertisement on the site. and was direct marketing to companies in the industry to sign up and add there companies . I am telling you what a struggle. I am brain dead now lol. For that site I am telling you I gave it all. just recently I fished with the template and I still could put in another 60 hours strait into it, if I want to? easily. But if companies won?t use the site then what is the point I had been on that project for two years I think I am finished with it now

This new project I am working in real player adventure gaming with the VB I am just going to go about it the old fashion way ,advertising in the local classifieds and other popular free advertising and if reputation stands then you will have all sorts of people tweeting for you. I think the first thing is to get people populated on the Forum first. But for Existing Sites that have been up for years I guess there the once that can really gauge the situation. but for me standing at this point it has been a huge waste of time concerning more to advertise your site but maybe the people that are members of the site like the idea of getting a tweet from time to time and It could contribute in keeping your members.

At least I can say I tried it ?:confused:

Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace have not effected me. I have realized though that LinkedIn is my biggest competition. The real perk to the forum though is that it is more easily searched, I think.

Twitter is about to release @Anywhere which looks like an interesting prospect and will be able to plug into any site http://www.crn.com/software/22390003...PSKHWATMY32JVN

I think Social media networking is going to burst in about five years after everyone gets tired of all the FP farmtown requests and such, twitter mayalways be here as the news media is flocking to them.

the problem with any board is the subject matter it covers.

Anime and Gaming have to fight for members these days.

automotive not so much

tech forums are always going to be huge no matter what.

if you want a forum site to survive and you can stand the "noise" then go and use FB connect and other mods/hacks to link to twitter and myspace.

Well we will have to see.... just out of interest is there a group where when you want to release a new forum and everybody jumps in just to make it look active. ok this might be dumb idea but has anybody done this before.??? because once again , and i am sure it has been the same problem that everybody faces this problem is that to get new people in they want to see if there is any action there. Might be hard to tear some folks away from( face reading... sorry Book) lol.

I cant believe this is a real question...

Forums hold a different purpose than most social networking sites...

forums are actually social networking sites themselves...

True the forums i guess was the foundation or we could go back to New's Groups...I wonder if anybody uses them anymore....probably the die hard. Ok we could eve go back further to the dial in modem days to the local bbs....lol i had friend that had one it was really cool but you had to log out( or hang up the phone) then go back in to see a response hours later. but lots of fun lol :eek:

Let's face it, YES is killing the concept, not just Twitter, but WP, FB, (soon Wave) and few others, you can count for millions their users, you can see them visiting more than once a day their sites, teenagers have the tools and the know-how to get fun there, for those that deny it, they act like my father who is still stuck on audio tapes (lol)
There is no serious stats on vB owners? they can ban you they can warn you (or bully you) but you never see numbers on how many licenses have been sold? how many of then are for Game forums (my guess 40%+) how many are dedicated to medicine, education, government, etc...

Of course you can go to MySpace and ask if the site is slowly dying, (after millions of dollars generated) they would blatantly deny it! but stats says the contrary, so by not having stats on vB they are not aware of... nobody will accept their knowledge or what they do it's almost useless trash ;)... the truth will set you free!

p.s. I love WP, you can't beat that! :D

Well what has happen is that the general public wants as little information as possible and the rest of the time there having little short conversations on each others face book walls so that satisfies most people needs they don't need more. And easily swallows up small business but technically wise on a subject in a certain area the script can still do well.

But i tell you i have been trying hard to get people to join in on community for a certain type of gaming and i decided to revamp and start a new concept. Man with all the hours i am telling you it is a real challenge lol. But it's a hobby.:D

What about Twitter's REALTIME activity? even a shoutbox diminish post activity in a forum...

p.s. it reminds me of an old Boxer, with old newspapers hanging in his garage

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa haaaa

I think FB and Twitter should be leveraged and incorporated into vBulletin as much as possible, they are the kings of social networking and the internet seems to be moving that way. My take is it's best to get on the bandwagon rather than getting left in its tracks.

well i decided to go under ground for my city , I have an idea maybe we should start a new underground community's network for all around the world. and each vb theme has to be for a city not for a hole country or state then in our font page we have a link o each others sites and we take turns having privet meetings on different sits, then we can triad ideas on marketing then we can we can trade content for our sites, and discus how we are going to take over the world hahahahhah . then we become 1 in under ground news,..... i am feeling bad .
I was looking at another social network script , i was getting a bit frustrated with vb. But then i was thinking , if purchased this then i am just going to try to compete with face book. because lets face it everybody is going to be on it . but if you create a buzz for your own city yes underground and there would be topics that you would not fine in a liberal newspaper or community then you are creating a huge niche and a popular one. You have a topics about tatoos ,FTa (free to air),so much more Hack's, how to pimp your ride and if you keep it to a boarder point where it is still in good taste not pornography , well there will be ads for adult entertainment.
well there is an idea.

4.0.3 will have the FB Connect (signon) functionality.

Nice, looking forward to that!

currently all people love FB and twitter :) thats the harse fact^^ but it looks that the vb will also be changing for it , which is great and cool.

No guys don't give in noooooo. Desperate a temp you will become like the Borg (we will assimilate you) (we Are One)

True, on my site allow for facebook comments all over the place, threads, profiles, articles, etc. people can post directly into a FB comments box, no FB connect necessary.

Is it content that Google can grab???

I don't see why google wouldn't pick it up, it's data on the page.

We run a photography forum. which for all practical purposes is a niche market.

Twitter, Facebook and Flickr all have some impact and many of our member use those (and similar) services.

But our growth rate in terms of membership, post rate and bandwidth (content delivery) has accelerated in the last 18 months and appears to be continuing to do so.

We hope that we deliver a good useful service that people want to be an active part of.

I'd have to say that Facebook and Twitter have actually helped my site's traffic increase. We are a NFL football site and our news forum is automatically sent to Twitter, Facebook as well as a handful of other sites. I think the key to making Twitter and Facebook work for you instead of against you is to have fresh and interesting content. The niche I am in is driven by up to the minute accurate news so people are always scouring any available avenue. We just aim to deliver that need.

Our forum continues to add more and more members daily (30-60), even with all of the other social networking sites out there. People like to communicate in more than soundbytes, so I think that content-driven forums (rather than purely chat forums) will continue to florish. :)

IMHO https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/'s texteditor is a bit poor (400 characters etc. etc.).

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/ + BBcode = win.

Seriously, http://www.betashare.it/images/smilies/B3_gesusi.gif <==== Jesus approved.

Well for the past weeks we have seen an increment on Facebook's connectivity and Twitter's monetize-tion... and for the last year I've noticed a 'post activity decrease' on this forum? am I right or it's just me?

p.s. :confused:

i dont think so this happend.

there are a lot of articles popping up on " Why i left , hate , sucks, and more about facebook"
I just left also after 3 years it was crazy, but a friend called me up and noticed that i was not on it anymore and other friends have noticed also( that was a face book standard comment worrying about nothing loll ) but he told me that out of many friends he has he has block there comments and wall comments and apparently this is becoming very common where if you want to talk to somebody you have to leave a message. I think you can see a rebound happening here and i think facebook is going to need all a our help to keep them going and that is why they are developing these mods to allow our forums and many other scripts to connect to face book , we will just become part of there network. there is also a trend where folks who are signing up are not using there real names like you would at a forum.

here is a good reenactment video on face book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVA047JAQsk

I have not done much research on this subject but recently there has been a big uproar about Facebook privacy act where people are clamming there information can be sold off.

Could this be mistaken by the use of the the new facebook Api that will allow facebook users full personal information integration with other Forums or portals ?

If this is the case do you think this could have some sort of a impact on how a user would judge a portal or forum that will take your facebook privet information.

but again i am sure that vb will notify and give the new user a choice on what information the would like to transfer over.