Is facebook killing forums?!
 

I haven't see this thread here so I guess I will start it. I have noticed lately users prefer just to click in "I Like" button instead engaging in active conversations. People prefer to answer by Facebook than login and answering by forums. What to do about this? Sure, some will say forums are a different thing, and bla bla bla, but you cannot deny the fact that Facebook is slowly driving away the interaction from forums, mailing lists and so on (I say this because I also manage a mailing list and the interaction has dropped about 50% since last year). Because people use everytime more and more their time for Facebook, so there is less time to spend in other sites (e.g. forums, etc.) Your thoughts?

I really agree this with dear people, one main reason is facebook 'cause it offers so much and also the users could create groups etc within the site, the usage of forums have gone down. but still if the content is good enough the users who really get something out of the active forum conversations will stick to it. A forum conversation is more on thread but facebook has many distractions when compared to a forum. I really don't like facebook it 'cause people being lazy to increase their acknowledge especially in forum that can be useful if we can manage it. sometimes people just seeking fun but don't know the benefits of it. Keep sharing on mailing list and Forum don't be junk by facebook, is that really right?

I said, I don't like facebook it 'cause I think, people who loves to facebook? Of course a lot of lazy people and shorty lover guys loves to that site. Of course this is not an immoral thing, because this is the matter of taste. I don't have a bad intent 'cause everyone is free all yours respectfully. However I think it, is facebook killing forums. Please don't use it "like this" in your forums. Please don't use it "join us on facebook" 'cause you will never vin, you will lose all the time if you use that in your forums. Why? Reason... You cannot get it "hit" from facebook, rather you losing...

Best Regards.
-THORN.

I think that we cannot really consider facebook “killing” forums. When you are on facebook, you can share comments and arguments with your friends. Compared to a forum where people are from all walks and just share a specific interest. Surely, you comment and like about anything on facebook, but forums are still avenues to shared ideas with people who you do not frequently meet and know at all for this matter.

Not to mention they have enormous privacy issues. I have no fb account and no desire to ever get one.

Then I'd guess that facebook is taking over everything. Really I'm using forums since 1999 and still using forums. Forums... Everything is so beautiful. People are very nice talking to everything. Discussing everything. A lot of people talking through forums, articles, learned to write. A lot of people learned that information through in forums. However when facebook released then most of people go to that facebook and forums dead. And now people using only some big boards.

Facebook is turning into myspace and will eventually be the death of itself, lol. Whatever, I would guess you don't understand me or actually you hadn't use a forum yet so if you use it then, may be you would understand me. If you a facebook fan or more activity user then please don't forget to facebook consumes your soul. I have noticed a trend on lots of forums. It seems that Facebook is really killing forums. People post up build threads and pictures pertaining to our "sport". If you have a lot of friends that are Facebook post happy, then it disappears from your wall view and you may never see it unless you constantly monitor it. It kinda sucks. It is a real disadvantage over vBulletin forums where you can click "new post" and all of them are easily visable and not lost forever. Also searching in google will display vbulletin post on forums where facebook post will not. So when you need information pertaing to some help thread, you can find a solution. I think people really should consider putting their post on forums. It helps us all in the end. Be part of the help and keep your post on forums!

Please believe me I think, I knew you have no facebook account : ) I'm sure that's awesome because we do not want to end the forums.


@Roms, Why you did deleted your own post? Lol. Whatever, it's no problem, rock on.

No I think. if we make quality forums any page dont kill us. we cant create individual, actual and dinamic forums.

Nope. Well, I don't agree with you that's cannot be true 'cause amazing the numbers they are adding to their roles on a daily rate, lol. It looks like slow motion on all discussion forums, boards, community message boards so while people seem to spend more and more time on facebook. I strongly dislike facebook, particularly when people that you really don't know want to make contact with you. In a real case scenario, a jealous partner could become suspicious of ones internet activities. I find the thing rather intrusive too. Also there is the time factor; on a forum such as this I may spend an average of 40 minutes per day, which I find acceptable but some people are totally fixed to facebook for hours on end. Little wonder that the tendancy for being overweight is on the increase, particularly among youngsters and they find it harder to obtain real friends because they are not developing real social skills. For real friends, send them a personal email or phone them or even visit them! I prefer to get out and meet people face to face and one new real friend is worth a hundred cyber ones. That said, it has its place when used sensibly I suppose.

Yes you are right. So ı have been trying to make social forums. You know that. so ı said "individual, actual and dinamic forums". Forum scripts are too underdeveloped. forums doesnt have advanced blog, advanced groups, advanced communication properties. so we cant wait success if we wait we disappointment always.

Well, yeah I know but I've said this on my this post "people using only some big boards." You see? Yes that's very good a reason, why I dislike facebook now I really don't know what we would do for this issue.

Yes we're having trouble starting a forum, it's hardest to get the first few members but people will remain loyal if they like the forum.

I hate to say, but what do you have to offer that I can not find on the
top 5 big forums? forums are a saturated market, everyone and
their grandmother is trying to start a forum about the same
topics you can find on the top biggest forums...

that is what everyone else is having a hard time...

they made it first to the top...

everyone else did not....

you are right to a point, people are going to have their favi
forums that they hang on, and unless you can offer them
something better, then they will continue to hang where
they have most likely been hanging for years...

and not everyone likes evil facebook...

I am not a fan of facebook either, never have been...

If your forum is not making it, then it is not because of
facebook, it is because of what you are not doing right....

Facebook isn't killing forums - if you think it is, then you need to work harder, and try something new.

There's so many various communities out there, and they continue to grow. Same with niche forums.

you can go one other site and introduce yourself and somewhat promote your site. Just like in the gaming community with the different clans and tournament sites out there and you are friends with them then you go to their sites and they comes to your site. you pretty much need to get people with some common interest and your real life friends can be on it and help pass the word out too

Facebook has had an impact on forums, no doubt. However, I still see a place for forums, because:

* It gives users the chance to discuss issues with some level of anonymity. On my site, many users are in the public spotlight in their communities. They still want to interact with their peers, but they really don't want to have their names out there.

* I've got the dominant English-language forum dealing with a certain profession. On Facebook, and before that Yahoo Groups, there were many scattered groups. Which one of the many groups do you join? (The same thing can be said with subjects that are represented by hundreds of forums, like anime and gaming. Which anime site of the thousands out there do you join?)

* Facebook and other large social networking sites is blocked at many workplaces. Professional forums usually aren't blocked.

* A forum allows a communtity to develop its own identity, independent of Facebook.

I think facebook is placing a challenges to forums for them to grow .................

Its typical how this topic is a hot topic on every webmaster forum that I visit. Its clearly a worrisome issue for webmasters.

And with good reason. Forums now need to content with facebook over the time that members spend online. And facebook keeps calling them. In fact, I have 3 new facebook friend requests waiting for me now.

Ya, its on a lot of webmaster forums these days. I wonder why so many people are so worried though? There's no point, if you can't beat them, join them. Use facebook to market and leverage your community.

Well, maybe I don't see it that way. I will not argue with you or someone else 'cause I always respect people's opinion but I also don't think this, however certanly people is interacting more there, spending more time there, and thus, leaving less time for our forums so I'm sure it's pretty good a reason. Fight against facebook is like fighting destiny...lol, No matter how hard you try, you will fail their power is a fact. The time will come soon, I hope when facebook fade away as the vacuous nonsense they ultimately are. Looking for "how to" or open communities, nothing yet beats forums. What/ever really I'm still hating facebook.

I've tried facebook and hate it. Even the folks that have good things to talk about are reduced to blathering nonsense when I look them up on facebook lol. A lot of users spend so much of their time on facebook, and very little on my own. I still gets lots of people visiting but I also have lost a lot. I would guess everyone has experienced it and there is nothing else I can attribue this to, other than to facebook. I have seen it, observed it and analyzed it.

I think it is funny how facebook's "suggest to friends" feature has now been only given to admins of a page- but even so it has been conveniently broken since October of 2010. Perhaps to sell more facebook ads would be my theory.

Facebook really helped my forum grow into something great by creating a page on facebook- so I must thank them for that- but now with my new forum, since 'suggest to friends' is not working I am having a very hard time getting my new forum out there without seeming spammy! So there is obviously + and - to facebook. The key is to create your forum to be content worthy and different from what someone gets out of facebook. Why would you go shopping at a camera store if you can get it at best buy? Because the camera store offers a unique service and more types of what you are looking for.

I know my forum is small but we are steadily growing, and facebook has helped with that. The key is getting them to stay and visit.

The reason why I say this is because if you have a good niche forum, how will Facebook kill it? If you have good content, Facebook doesn't hurt you. in fact, you can use FB to find more content for your forums - quote things from users on fb, and make good threads.

Many have pointed out a variety of interesting elements.

I'd say Facebook is definitely "sucking away" traffic from many websites, not just forums.

Users share content on Facebook, comment things on Facebook but hardly stick on other sites.

With forums however I'd say it depends on the niche. Facebook is quite specific about what is acceptable. Certain forums which tackle topics that are not "accepted" on Facebook or not openly discussed amongst "friends" on Facebook will not be affected negatively.

It is sure though, Facebook has changed the web and the future of forums in general!

yes it is !!! :) any thing that pulls users from your pages is unsticky, which means you lose them. The basic thread like design of face book comments are in itself a forum

No doubt facebook is killing off forums slowly.

Forums are no where near where they used to be in terms of popularity and membership.

Its just are not as instant and mobile as facebook is... with apps for blackberries and iphones now adays facebook stays connected with members 24/7 by sending push notifications right to your hand. While forums still need us to sign in typically on a computer where we have to search for useful content even when apps are available for forums its not as easy and or free like it is for facebook.

We shall see where the future takes us forum wise...

but for now its definitely

Facebook 1 - Forums 0

evolve and integrate ;)

to an extent... but i find the integration really only benefits facebook for the majority of it.

your not seeing facebook come out with vbulletin apps - its vice versa.

Yeah its not good at all. People on my forum are now talking about what they talk about on Facebook, so its like "on facebook we are having a discussion about..."

I really never saw this coming. In my mind forums are dying unless you are massive enough like American Idol or Big Brother or a really niche market.

Facebook isn't going anywhere, its become the internet for so many people. It's a real shame but I don't see my 13 year old community lasting. Even with Facebook connect, why bother posting when you have your facebook community to do it.

What's your site about, PamelaE? if you dont mind me asking (:

I asked the same question about a year ago when I saw the drain that my board suffered and openly asked my members if I should just do away with it and we move to Facebook. It's not worth the price of the server plus the URL if no one's there to enjoy it. My members wanted to stay so where we are. I don't think that Facebook is killing forums, but they do offer, beyond the social networking thing, is the ability to multi level their game system. I asked about incorporating those types of games on vBulletin with no response.

Facebook is the current trend. Trends come and go and it too will go the way of Myspace. We said the same thing about Friendster before that and the Asian Avenue-owned social forums before that. There's always some new big thing to take its place, but we need to stay competitive and offer the average poster something different to hold their attention...

I think Facebook may be taking away from some of the time some members spend on certain forums, (we run a photo contest and critique website) but having a Facebook website related to our contest website has brought in tons of new members. Every week we have 6 winners in each of the 6 categories. So I take the images with the ribbons we post in the forum like below
http://www.bytephoto.com/forums/2011...w-winners.html

Post them to Facebook as the current weeks winners, tag those photos to any members who won and may also have a FB account. All photographers online have tons of other photographer FB friends. They eventually see their friend winning, and want to join in on the fun :D

I also tell members that for any reason the server may go down, I will post a status on Facebook.
Try to use it as free advertising on FB. I also created a Twitter account that I post to with the wins and other things and it too has pulled in a lot of followers in the short time I have been actively using it the past 3 months

Your contest is great and I love your ribbons...

thanks :) that was my idea. The previous owner never kept track of the wins. I figured out how to use vB to add ribbons to their profiles that you see show up in the forum posts.
I also created the simple code link that places a ribbon under their photo within Photopost :)
http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/m...he-bridge.html

The other way I use FB, is to see if new users are spammers. There have been a lot of times that i search new users email addresses on FB and find them. I at least know they are legit and can usually tell if they are interested in photography. I found one person that was spamming away all over facebook, but their new account on our site looked legit. Spammers are getting smarter and signing up manually now.

Okay I got NinjaPost installed. It was really easy. Hopefully I'll get Facebook like activity on that site.

You know that saying 'If you can't beat em, join em!' http://fireside.the8thlegion.com/

Ninjapost is very interesting. Especially for a new startup. They already have more than a bit that vbulletin admins can be jealous of.

I think we need to start being weary how many links we post back to our forums on Facebook...

I'm hearing from friends Facebook has started blocking links back to their blogs- no reason given- presumably because they posted it too many times.

I googled, didn't find much but found this person complaining too:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/tech...92944-28489277

I think it's becoming a new policy... they don't want people leaving facebook for forums or blogs...

This could mean WAR. :eek:

Have you ever tried using a 3rd party app to promote your forum on Facebook?

not personally.

The new facebookforums app on facebook is interesting.

http://apps.facebook.com/facebook_forums/

My thoughts exactly. I see facebook as helping forums, with the like button it provides incoming links that others may have never seen. If a forum is about blah blah blah what i did today faceboom may be a nicer place for that, but the type of forum im on have a ton of useful information. Like this forum, i don't see many people asking how to fix the header or something like that on facebook lol