Facebook vs. Forum

[kfander]

Have you found that the popularity of Facebook and Facebook groups have made it substantially more difficult to attract new members to your forum?

I can think of many people I know who rarely leave Facebook anymore, and who use Facebook in many of the same ways that people used to use discussion forums. One of the most popular forums I've ever run was a regional forum, discussing local issues, and this seems to be accomplished through Facebook these days.

The same is true of political forums; it seems that a large number of people find it easier to simply join a Facebook group rather than to participate in an outside forum discussion. Many businesses and even municipalities are closing their websites down in favor of a Facebook page, so it's not just forums that are seeing the effect.

In many ways, Facebook is serving the purpose that AOL served for people many years ago, when there were people who never venture out into the larger Internet, thinking that AOL offered them everything they needed.

Since their very nature attracts the tech-savvy, I would think that webmaster and SEO forums are probably not so much affected, although I know that the website design business is affected by it, as potential customers opt for a Facebook page rather than a website.

What effect has Facebook had on your discussion forum? Have you found ways in which to entice people away from Facebook long enough to participate in your forum?

 

[cyberpuppet]

I cant say about its affect really but as a user I cannot be the only person who really doesnt like face book and much prefers the way forums are laid out and how they operate. Then people always get bored - there will be those who have not ever used forums will discover them go back to facebook and tell everyone.

 

[Kleineganz]

Facebook groups are rather limited in terms of no way to subdivide topics, which is why I created a forum to go along with one of my facebook groups. It allows me greater control on privacy and ability to subdivide topics so that members who don't want to talk about one aspect of our group can completely skip those posts.

 

[xTinx]

I think it's all right to have Facebook and forums. Forums remain relevant as they're more specialized and deal with topics you rarely see in Facebook groups. Facebook groups cater to a lot of random stuff, from posting memes to jokes to confessions. Privacy wise, you have an edge when you post at online forums. With Facebook, people can easily tract your activities and you can't even go off-record that much lest you want to expose yourself.

 

[Soulwatcher]

I hate to say it but Facebook is the wave of the future and forums are going out with the dinosaur. I have 90+ people on my Facebook and not one of them use my forum but rather they use my forums Facebook page. And there is good reason why, all but 3 of them use smart phones to browse the web. I only know 3 people who are still using a laptop or a desktop for browsing the web. The web is changing and so far forums are not changing with it!

Greg

 

[Shawn Barton]

Although I don't own a forum, I would say Facebook has made it harder to get new members for forums. The biggest reason behind this in my opinion, is the more relaxed will and ability to discuss anything in an open way. Most people spend a lot of time on Facebook daily therefore joining groups is more convenient for them. I personally prefer these groups than forums.

 

[cyberpuppet]

I dont think forums will die out completely - maybe less people will use them but there will always be some people that prefer them to facebook or other outright social media. The organisation is different and people have different ways of thinking. I find when I do get engaged by something on facebook I rapidly then get frustrated because of the way it works and give up. On a forum I know I can find a particular thought on a particular subject quickly and precisely without having to trawl through all the related thoughts and subjects.

 

[kfander]

I don't get the popularity of smart phones over computers, but that seems to be what those who are younger than thirty are doing these days. I use a smartphone only when I can't get to a regular computer, and the results are always unsatisfying. Yet, I can see in my own site stats a significant percentage of my traffic comes from mobile devices. So far, it's still a smaller percentage but a year ago it was almost indiscernible.

One of the advantages of Facebook over forums is that it is so much easier to keep up with a variety of topics and people, since everyone is there. Forums allow me to participate in discussions without having to always be there. I can come back to a forum after a one- or two-day absence and still contribute to a forum thread while, on Facebook, everyone has moved on to something else by then.

 

[cyberpuppet]

I have to say I think one reason for the popularity of smart phones among the younger generations is they are happy to use text spelling and abbreviations and don't mind not having access to a full keyboard. Most of us "oldies" were bought up to at least try and use proper sentences and spellings so we will always prefer a proper keyboard.

 

[kfander]

That's a good point because when I do text someone on my phone, I spend more time making corrections than in composing the message. I'm still hoping it's a passing fad.

 

[cyberpuppet]

Yeah you may be out of luck on that one - I think texts are here to stay lol.

 

[Maximum]

Facebook is just a mini-blog for people, nothing more and nothing less.

 

[proxynvpn]

I have noticed this yes, it's a shame to see that so many seem to rely on Facebook for all their online needs and don't seem to want to venture out any further than Facebook which leaves forums feeling a little neglected.

 

[Jem]

I think what we think of as discussion forums are a bit of a dinosaur now. Not just because of Facebook, either. All of Social Media with it's too-simple-to-screw-up communities and micro-blogging has really done in the whole concept of having a self-hosted forum community. The good old days are gone, at least for the time being.

I think, also, that people have switched from participating to commenting and 'liking' - two different things. A forum requires participation, a Youtube video or Facebook post only requires a split second of your time. It's a whole other world and I think it really put the final nail in the coffin. Sad, actually.

 

[Tania]

I think it depends on which country your users are in, and what demographic you are targetting. We've recently had a client dump facebook for wordpress (the provider, not self-hosted) because they were getting the same hits on wordpress in a day as they got on Facebook in a month. If you're targetting people concerned about privacy, or who want to discuss topics that they may not want their employee to see (e.g. job hunting) facebook is not so good. As always it is about what will reach customers/users.

If your forum has a hook, unique content, and something that facebook can't provide - e.g. many dedicated fiction or article sites - then it will survive. Otherwise it won't, for example many author and fan sites are now on facebook because it is easier for the fans to have one place for all the sites they want to follow, rather than signing up separately for a lot of different places.

 

[pwarbi]

Personally I've no reason to believe that social media and forums can't work along side each other, as I think even though they're similar, there's enough difference to mean they can both survive.

I use social media to interact with family and friends and to react to current events that are happening, even if that is just a picture of somebody's lunch! But with forums, I use them to speak to likeminded people about a particular topic.

 

[PenguinManiac]

I think they're too different to be compared side-to-side. Even though it has groups, Facebook is more about interacting and getting in touch with a small community (most likely composed by people you already know) in a more confidential way; on the other hand, forums are focused on being part of a large community, which gives you the opportunity to interact with strangers with different (or similar) ideas.
Their very basic concept is different. They are meant to be used in different ways, so I don't see any of the two overcoming the other one.

 

[Deka]

I could understand your point. I know lots of my friends use Facebook on a daily basis and spend a lot of time just browsing in there. Mostly they are just liking posts or maybe commenting on interesting posts. Others use it as their main source of information. Then we cannot remove the fact that there are tons of sites in the internet that might make us lose a potential member for our forum. Truth is, there are lots of distractions in the internet itself which makes managing a forum and earning from it difficult.

But on the other hand, if a user wants a specific topic and wants information about it, forums are great for them. Everything is in one place and they won't have to scour the internet for resources. And if your forum does that for them, I think they will keep coming back. And most especially for topics like SEO, coding or anything site-related that they would want to get into. I imagine even a niche like news or entertainment might have their own loyal following.

 

[cortana]

I was trying to get memberships by using Facebook. I turned on Facebook login, then invited people from Facebook thinking I could get them signed up. Seems like no one really signed up though.

People are starting to get lazy when it comes to signing up and posting. Either that or my site isn't inviting enough, and I actually think it's more of the latter here...