Do You Think Social Media is the Biggest Threat to Forums?

[Nomad]

I frequently read on forums that forums are dying because of social media sites. Do you really believe social media sites are the biggest threat to forums? If you check the history of web, you will find that online forums are older than social media platforms. Why do you think social media sites went ahead of forums?

 

[Shortie]

I used to think social media was one of the biggest threats to forums but since I have looked into it more and learned more, I know now that social media is not as big a threat as I thought it was.

There are people out there who prefer social media and there are people out there who prefer forums but when you think more about it, when people are looking for solutions to their issues, where do they usually end up when they search? On a forum. That is one of the reasons why I feel social media is not a big threat to forums.

 

[Maria]

I believe everything can co-exist peacefully. There is no need to copy and no need for competition, all you need to do is offer a great platform for your users.

 

[joelr]

There are two broad categories of forums: social and success. (Many forums are a hybrid combination of the two)

Social is when the strategy is to connect members over shared interests. These are the "hang out", social chat forums. These social, forums are totally wiped out by social media, which is ruthlessly superior on engagement.

Success is when the strategy is to actually improve the outcomes for members. These are the q&a forums, technical solution forums, support forums, expertise forums. Forums still have a fighting chance here.

As a whole, social media will win on lifestyle, pop culture, and social.

 

[Dead2009]

I used to think that Twitter and to a lesser extent, Discord, would have killed off the majority of forums to this day because A. you can join multiple servers like having tabs on a browser and B. you can physically talk to people on those servers in voice chats. But from what I've seen here, and a bunch of other forums, they're still thriving today.