is the End of Forums Era

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  • sandrose
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2001
    • 389
    • 5.0.X

    is the End of Forums Era

    I believe that it is the End of Forum site Era since most of user moved to social Networks and mobile social Apps.

    What is your point of view regarding this issue and what is the future of vBulletin and its strategic plan?
    http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/filed...ledataid=63608
  • Wayne Luke
    vBulletin Technical Support Lead
    • Aug 2000
    • 73979

    #2
    I moved this. It is not related to feedback on the operation of this site.
    Translations provided by Google.

    Wayne Luke
    The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
    vBulletin 5 API

    Comment

    • Mark.B
      vBulletin Support
      • Feb 2004
      • 24286
      • 6.0.X

      #3
      I first heard that forums were finished back in 2004.
      MARK.B
      vBulletin Support
      ------------
      My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
      My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

      Comment

      • Mattwhf
        Senior Member
        • May 2016
        • 124
        • 4.2.x

        #4
        Originally posted by sandrose
        I believe that it is the End of Forum site Era since most of user moved to social Networks and mobile social Apps.

        What is your point of view regarding this issue and what is the future of vBulletin and its strategic plan?
        I don't think forums are finished, its still growing and has its own road.

        Even I have just started a new forum http://forumweb.hosting recently and its getting good traffic from search engines and social networks

        Of course I used social media as a advertising channel to attract users to my forum. Forums are giving me more benefits if you do it right way.

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        • sandrose
          Senior Member
          • Feb 2001
          • 389
          • 5.0.X

          #5
          Originally posted by Mattwhf

          I don't think forums are finished, its still growing and has its own road.

          Even I have just started a new forum http://forumweb.hosting recently and its getting good traffic from search engines and social networks

          Of course I used social media as a advertising channel to attract users to my forum. Forums are giving me more benefits if you do it right way.
          I hope so
          http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/filed...ledataid=63608

          Comment

          • sandrose
            Senior Member
            • Feb 2001
            • 389
            • 5.0.X

            #6
            Originally posted by Mark.B
            I first heard that forums were finished back in 2004.
            I noticed that the forums was ended in 2008 as the momentum of the users how use forums decreased.
            http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/filed...ledataid=63608

            Comment

            • Wayne Luke
              vBulletin Technical Support Lead
              • Aug 2000
              • 73979

              #7
              Forums are a technology and a tool. How you use it depends on how well it works for you. However if you ignore other tools like social media, your results may not be what you expect.

              Online communities have been doomed since 1990 when the Internet started seeping into homes. Back then we used BBSes. These still operate but many have switched to a Forum system and some use Social Media. Take that what you will. I will say, you have more functionality with a system like vBulletin than you ever will with a Facebook Group. How you tap into your market is ultimately what matters.
              Translations provided by Google.

              Wayne Luke
              The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
              vBulletin 5 API

              Comment

              • In Omnibus
                Senior Member
                • Apr 2010
                • 2310

                #8
                In my experience niche specific forums survive change far better than general "catch-all" forums. Social media has largely replaced forums as the place for general meaningless and mindless idle chatter but I defy anyone to find, for example, detailed schematics, rare parts sources, and expert mechanical knowledge on 1960's "Big Three" manufacturer muscle cars all in one place on social media.

                It's all in what you can offer than virtually no one else can or does. It's hard to just offer a feature or function that no one else has now. It's all about the content.

                Comment


                • jdj
                  jdj commented
                  Editing a comment
                  I'd still like an events calendar for my community. Any community of muscle car enthusiasts or any enthusiasts still goes to events of some kind. It's what you do with the feature that counts, certainly, and it's how it works on a mobile device.
              • jdj
                Senior Member
                • Jan 2009
                • 824
                • 5.1.x

                #9
                Originally posted by ProSportsForums
                It's all in what you can offer than virtually no one else can or does. It's hard to just offer a feature or function that no one else has now. It's all about the content.
                I agree that it's all about the content. It's primarily about the content generated by a specific, unique target audience. I see that Microsoft just announced the acquisition of LinkedIn but it's also worth noting that many people who are on Linkedin are also on Facebook or Twitter; but the context of each site is not the same and the activity you see on each site is different even though there may be links between the things that people say, post or share on either site.

                If you have features or functions which allow you to connect securely with a specific target audience that can help you in turn generate something unique then there's every reason that you can still succeed: If the technology you are using has missing features that don't enable that audience to share content, or you make it more difficult for them to share content on your site than they can elsewhere, then you'll find it an uphill struggle.

                It seems to me that in this day and age your technology needs to work easily on a remote mobile device and be able to service the most common information needs of any given group of users. If you can't manage all that in one package then whatever package you are using needs to be able to work seamlessly with something else that can deliver the missing features, will also work securely on a mobile device, and ideally allow you to connect to other social media. These days there's not much difference between a forum post and a blog post. There's a big difference between those technologies that work well on smart-phones and those that don't.

                Comment

                • Mark.B
                  vBulletin Support
                  • Feb 2004
                  • 24286
                  • 6.0.X

                  #10
                  This thread is about forums in general, and is not a place to start discussions about 'vB5 failure'.

                  Please stick to the topic
                  MARK.B
                  vBulletin Support
                  ------------
                  My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
                  My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

                  Comment

                  • jdj
                    Senior Member
                    • Jan 2009
                    • 824
                    • 5.1.x

                    #11
                    Originally posted by sandrose
                    I believe that it is the End of Forum site Era since most of user moved to social Networks and mobile social Apps.

                    What is your point of view regarding this issue and what is the future of vBulletin and its strategic plan?
                    I'm not sure how much the detail is welcome here on this thread. In general terms though on 'forums dead and social media alive' it's not that simple. When you connect a forum to social media some of the content goes on social media, some of the content goes on the forum. If all your content ends up going on social media you don't really have a forum, it's just a copy. If you have the tools available to you to put more useful content onto your forum then more of the traffic will go to your forum if you manage to do the right things with it and attract people from social media. Not having the right tools holds you back and stops you being able to serve your target audience.

                    Comment

                    • elindo
                      Member
                      • Sep 2016
                      • 76
                      • 1.1.x

                      #12
                      I am a new customer, and I like the "forum" format and presentation.


                      It is not about 'social media' vs. 'forums'.. it is about "SHARING"


                      You can keep calling it forums, but you need to integrate more abilities to share like if it was pages, blogs, articles, activity stream, etc...

                      You also need to give the USERS the ability to have control of what they see. One thing I don't like about "social media" is that THEY control what the users see, and it should be the USERS who should have control of what they see and how much they see.


                      You have to give the users control of their own activity stream on what they see from pages, groups, friends, etc... the users should have control of RSS and email notifications...


                      Furthermore, the users should also have the ability of adding their very own monetization link on the pages of their own creation.


                      "Forums" will be dead only if you get stuck inside a box of what you think a forum should be.

                      Comment

                      • elindo
                        Member
                        • Sep 2016
                        • 76
                        • 1.1.x

                        #13
                        BTW... a "forum" alone is a good tool for Q&A and discussions of a certain topic. There will always be a need of a "forum", but you still need the other tools to keep growing.

                        Comment

                        • Nintenex
                          Senior Member
                          • Oct 2016
                          • 179
                          • 5.2.x

                          #14
                          I disagree, Like what Wayne Luke said, Forums are a utility, when you go to google and search anything any question most likely a forum witht hat question's answer will pop up in the results, forums are forever, I dont think ive ever seen a social media post in google or yahoo search.

                          Any information that you put on your forums is something someone might see 3 years from now and join your site, forums are far from defeated.

                          Comment

                          • CarpCharacin
                            New Member
                            • Dec 2014
                            • 22
                            • 4.2.x

                            #15
                            I don't think that forums are dying.

                            Comment

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