Doing Some Research on Message Boards: Need Assistance

[Briboy923]

Hey Everyone,

Been a while since I've last visited vB.org, but still looks the same as it did almost a year ago. I'm currently writing a business plan for a non-profit message board as well as a research paper on online communication, and am having trouble finding out some information about forums & message boards.

I was wondering if anyone could help me, either directly or by finding some links, answer some of these questions:

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1. A rough estimate on the number of message boards (the true number can't be found obviously)
2. Approximately how many individuals use message boards and the frequency of people who belong to multiple message boards.
3. The average time a frequent members spend on a message board.

4. What are some of the things that attract people to a forum
5. What helps make a forum sucessful (and what makes them fail)

6. The most frequent age groups that use message boards.

7. What are some direct and indirect competitors of a message board
8. How do certain boards gain a "competitive" advantage over a board with the same topic.

9. What tactics can be used to market a message board.
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For some of the more opinionated questions, I have been able to come up with information on my own, but even after 6-7 years of working with forums, I don't consider my opinions authentic information. I know alot of people on this forum are message board administrators and advocates themselves, and hopefully you'll be able to share my enthusism.

On a broader scale, I'm also trying to find information related to general online communication - emailing, IMing, IRC, etc, but that information I've been able to find a little more easily, would still appreciate some statistics on them though.

Thanks,
Brian

[Borgs8472]

Yikes, tough questions

Try

http://www.best-board.com/
or
http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/