Huge Forum

[Shawn Gossman]

Would like to run a really huge forum one day? One that gets thousands of posts a day consistently? Nevermind about revenue for this question though, would like to run a really active community or would you hate to run an active one?

Personally, I'd love it because it gives me more people to talk too!

We used to call those "Big Boards" back in the day.

I think I'd like to have a community that gets like 30 to 60 posts a day to be honest.

To me, it's an active forum but it's small enough where everyone can know one another. It's also small enough where a new member can become a part of the community quickly.

Ever joined a large forum and felt very new and unknown for a long time? Yeah, I stay away from those forums because of that feeling. And they're so big that they won't miss me. To me, that's not a real community.

I'm going to keep enjoying a small forum and let it grow on its own without being anxious of it becoming a Big Board.

 

[Cory]

Ever joined a large forum and felt very new and unknown for a long time? Yeah, I stay away from those forums because of that feeling. And they're so big that they won't miss me. To me, that's not a real community.

Sounds a lot like most social media.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Sounds a lot like most social media.

Yeah, very true.

I have a group on Facebook with 43,000+ members. It's very active. I don't get the same feeling on that group as I do on my forums or even a forum like this where I know a majority of the names here.

The more people on a community, the less it feels like a community.

But it's not always an option.

I'm the community manager of Copyblogger. If you've heard of Copyblogger, you know it's a big brand and they're definitely into being a profitable company. So, we want as many members as we can get on the community because it's a paid community and that's how we all make our money. But my job consists of me ensuring the community remains a community for all members which I've been fairly successful at along with the others who work there.

So, while small is nice, it's still a good idea to have a strategy in place to ensure the community continue as the enterprise grows, if that makes sense.