Is Twitter killing forums?

[The Geek]

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.

[Princeton]

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.

[mrt12345]

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 ?

[azbryanw]

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.

[ericgtr]

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

[Mike Anime]

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.

[mrt12345]

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.

[IsMaR]

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...

[mrt12345]

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

[iogames]

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!

WORDPRESS Foundation
The point of the foundation is to ensure free access, in perpetuity, to the software projects we support. People and businesses may come and go, so it is important to ensure that the source code for these projects will survive beyond the current contributor base, that we may create a stable platform for web publishing for generations to come. As part of this mission, the Foundation will be responsible for protecting the WordPress, WordCamp, and related trademarks. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the WordPress Foundation will also pursue a charter to educate the public about WordPress and related open source software.