Is facebook killing forums?!

[RedTrinity]

I have run a non-profit parenting forum for 5+ years now, and I can definitely confirm that Facebook has been responsible for the quiet state it is suffering from today.

This time 2 years ago we had 50+ members logging in on a daily basis, around 400-500 posts being made per day... today, we are lucky to have 20 members log in, and see up to 50 posts a day I've witnessed forum members posting up a storm on Facebook whilst not bothering to visit our forum anymore, or barely participate on it. They are well and truly addicted to this social networking site. I've also had moderators do the same, and admit to me that they just find Facebook to be easier and more convenient... some have even stepped down because they don't participate enough anymore.

I've tried competing with the Facebook monster but unfortunately I just can't compete with their billion dollar budget and high tech features, especially considering I don't make anything from our forum in the first place. There's little I can offer users that Facebook isn't already providing them, it even now has a new influx of parents groups on it - one time, one of our users even tried starting her own on there and inviting all of our forum members to it, much to my dismay!

Recently I have actually closed down my Facebook account and I'll tell you what, it has led to me posting on our forum a lot more again. Its a shame we can't get other members to do the same, it would definitely help our forum recover!

I think the other cause of forums becoming quiet nowadays is because of mobile phones. People are increasingly using their phones to access forums instead of their computers and laptops, and because it takes so long to type out proper responses on their phone, they just tend to peruse instead.

Technology in general is killing off discussion forums, in my opinion.... and its a real shame.

I am only still running our forum because I did a group vote and nobody wanted me to close it. Plus its something I have worked so hard on for many years, so I admit I'm attached to it. But I do admit that the thought still crosses my mind sometimes as to why I am still bothering, it just doesn't seem worth the effort anymore at times, especially when you deal with the frustration of seeing your members posting away on FB to each other, whilst the forum sits through another dead day of activity....

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Oh, and I forgot to add, it doesn't seem to be just our forum suffering. I've seen other rival and similar forums to ours struggling lately, including ones which are a lot more established than ours. Today they are seeing about the same results (daily posts made, visits etc) on their forum as we are on ours, even though they have more members than we do. A couple of them have even threw in the towel altogether and closed down completely over the past couple of years.

Its a major slump throughout most of online parenting forum land, with Facebook being the main culprit...