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Will forums ever recover from the social media takeover?

Shortie

Shortie

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It's no lie and very much noticeable that since social media started becoming more popular, forums started to take a hit.

As much as forums have been kept going by those who love to use forums and also those who love to run forums, we are definitely seeing less growth compared to say 10 years ago now due to social media.

Do you feel forums will ever recover from the social media takeover?
 
Probably not; but I do hope the limited comeback will at least stabilize. :cool:
 
Reddit is a forum and it's still going strong. Look at chat rooms, they have been around forever and they're as popular as ever such as Discord & Slack.
 
DrLeftover said:
Like everything else, the popularity of forums will wax and wane, the important thing is to keep them running.
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This man said it all..

This is the primary reason, I have kept mine up all these years.. I just wish I wasn't so busy now with other projects, otherwise I'd be working on mine now..
 
We have a dedicated group of people on the internet who love forums, so we'll always have them around for the foreseeable future, IMO. Look at my brand new forum, start just over 3 months ago and it's at 50,000 posts already. People want forums, they just need to remember why they love them.
 
As long as there's people like us out there who value real discussion and community then I think forums will be fine. I don't think social media is great for discussions, it's only created monsters with bad social skills and values. Those who don't care about being influencers will realize that more in time.
 
Wessel said:
Reddit is a forum and it's still going strong. Look at chat rooms, they have been around forever and they're as popular as ever such as Discord & Slack.
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I've tried Reddit and it seriously sucks because when others downvote you your ability to post gets restricted and limited to once every ten minutes or something and that's a serious flaw where others can control how much you post and participate in Reddit...
 
What I like about forums too over other social media is that usually post history is saved and can be reviewed by anyone anytime so that's a kind of honest transparency that regular social media fails at because reviewing the post history of anyone will always provide the best evidence of what kind of person that poster really is...
 
Tuesday said:
I've tried Reddit and it seriously sucks because when others downvote you your ability to post gets restricted and limited to once every ten minutes or something and that's a serious flaw where others can control how much you post and participate in Reddit...
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Reddit does suck. Years ago, I had a horrible experience. I had a really bad confrontation with a moderator from a sub-reddit group and I've never had anything to do with Reddit since after I deleted my account.
 
I hate social media because it mostly causes trouble and is not good either. Forums are much calmer and nicer than social media, or Reddit.
 
DrLeftover said:
Like everything else, the popularity of forums will wax and wane, the important thing is to keep them running.
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Doc's right; there will always be a place for message boards/forums even in the era of social media.
 
I honestly don't know why social media DID take over forums. They are two separate entities. Social media is set up to scroll one post at a time. There's no organization, no boards like forums. So why are they even more popular? Posts get lost in the shuffle. Discussions are found more on forums.
As for this question, like others have said, there are those of us who are Team Forum. & if we continue to help each other out, not compete with each other, we'll keep going strong. :)
 
I do hope social media actually dies down and forum take over again. :mellow:

forum member
 
There are still some really HUGE forums out there that are doing great and social media hasn't affected them. I'm finding that a lot of people want those huge forums, the constant activity where they can log in and see a ton of posts every hour. The bigger forums are only going to get bigger, I don't know how some of the smaller forums can compete at times with them.
 
ZandraJoi said:
I honestly don't know why social media DID take over forums. They are two separate entities. Social media is set up to scroll one post at a time. There's no organization, no boards like forums. So why are they even more popular? Posts get lost in the shuffle. Discussions are found more on forums.
As for this question, like others have said, there are those of us who are Team Forum. & if we continue to help each other out, not compete with each other, we'll keep going strong. :)
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I think it's because the disorganised scroll down apps cater to those with short attention spans etc they don't worry about things that ensure transparency and honesty they just want to shout out whatever they want and see quick reactions from others then quickly move on to the next thing...whereas forums are for those who like to have longer lasting discussions/interactions...I'd compare it to TV vs Books...we forums are like books competing against TV...hard to complete but we will outlast them in the time tested quality department✊

KO896 said:
There are still some really HUGE forums out there that are doing great and social media hasn't affected them. I'm finding that a lot of people want those huge forums, the constant activity where they can log in and see a ton of posts every hour. The bigger forums are only going to get bigger, I don't know how some of the smaller forums can compete at times with them.
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It'll just be like the big box stores vs small local stores...it'll be hard to compete and last but those that do last will definitely be of higher quality than the big boxes...like McDonalds vs local restaurants...
 
Tuesday said:
I think it's because the disorganised scroll down apps cater to those with short attention spans etc they don't worry about things that ensure transparency and honesty they just want to shout out whatever they want and see quick reactions from others then quickly move on to the next thing...whereas forums are for those who like to have longer lasting discussions/interactions...I'd compare it to TV vs Books...we forums are like books competing against TV...hard to complete but we will outlast them in the time tested quality department✊
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I have to agree with you! It's one of the reasons I don't frequent Social Media. You are just a number there.
 
What's known as a forum now probably won't get critical mass again. Something that captures widespread attention the way discord and reddit did for their niches (and in many cases already consuming forums themselves), an update of the format I can't begin to describe (else, I would be wealthy and better known :p) will be the format that dethrones today's social media. It will include the lessons learned and evidence of evolution both from forums and social media but I am sure it will look different.
 
They would never recover. The golden age of forums has ended.
 
It’s clear that we all share a love for the community and depth that forums provide, which is something that can’t be replicated on social media platforms.

I’m all for keeping the spirit of forums alive! They offer a unique space for organized, in-depth conversations that really allow us to dive into topics and share knowledge in a way that’s meaningful and lasting. Plus, the sense of community is unbeatable.
 
I know in the minority
But forums will never have the power it once did long ago before social media
I mean it has its place but that place is niche and will always be a niche
you can say "Oh forums will one day come back" not when the majority of forum software markers are greedy and .com domains become more expensive
traditional forum's longevity is determined by its community activity and members
I have seen it far too often when forums collapse because of either a good idea but poor execution or staff that are corrupt and only care about their power over the user or use it as a platform to bully or harass others or sometimes they don't care
tl;dr summary:
But forums will never have the power it once did long ago before social media
I mean it has its place but that place is niche and will always be a niche
 
There's plenty of forums out there that are thriving even with the age of social media. It just depends on what the forums are centered around.
 

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