Forums - A dying breed?

Wayne made a good point here and this was something I was actually just thinking about last night..

Are small independently owned forums a dying breed? With big social networking sites rolling forums (or groups) up in the their plethora of dynamic tools why in the future is one going to sign up for 'just a forum'?

Personally I think there will always be some demand for independent networking sites but on the other hand as my generation and the one after (current teenagers) move on to be adults and our targeted audiences I think we're going to have offer something more than just a forum to make people stick around.

Perhaps the poorly implemented social networking features I always gripe about with vBulletin are a good thing for the future?

 

It wasn't long ago that the World Wide Web was a series of static pages with gray backgrounds and blue links. Maybe an image here and there. It wasn't very fun. This started to change in 1995 with new browsers and the web being opened up to the public world wide on a large scale. It is relatively recent (2006 and on) where we have access to full motion video, music streaming and other high-end abilities.

When people hear Web 2.0, they react in one of two ways.

1) They scoff and say it was a fad and that the glossy look of websites will fade away. They say that Web 2.0 doesn't bring any substance to the Internet.

2) They completely understand the concept of generations on the World Wide Web.

Currently the World Wide Web is in its third generation or Web 3.0. First generation was static gray webpages. Second generation was building interaction and dynamic pages. Third generation is not only improving interaction but increasing the types of content that is available. Some sites like Youtube, straddle the second and third generations. Others like Hulu, are the babies of the third generation. Currently we are heading into the 4th generation. In this generation, the Web will go truly mobile. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and even Pandora Radio are hitting on this now.

So what does this have to do with Forums? Or more importantly communities? Quite simply we have to keep up or join the dinosaurs. Most standalone forums are firmly embedded in a period between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. This happened almost a decade ago in 2000. There really hasn't been much innovation in the underlying forum technology in the last decade. Now some people will say there has been because some software has popup Private Messaging instead of reloading a page or because we added AJAX and rich-text editing but that is polish on the chrome, not true innovation. This isn't meant to belittle the many developers working on forum software out there either. It is just what happens in a stable market. As an example, outside of Hybrids, there hasn't been any real innovations to the underlying technology of automobiles in about 30 years. Even the electric cars of today are based off of technology that is 100 years old.

Anyway back to communities. The current generation of the world wide web encourages active involvement from your MySpace page to Wikipedia. It is a flowing dynamic of information that is to be shared. People can create their own spaces and build their own communities. Forums touch on this but miss some aspects. Forum structures are relatively static and confined. What if you want to make a thread that fits into 3 or 4 categories? You would have to duplicate it multiple times and so forth.

However if you can take that information and present it in multiple locations and contexts than you start to build to the people. People want to make social connections, build networks, create friends. This is why Facebook has 200 million visitors every month. It is why 20,000 people sign up to Match.com every month. Its why we need to build communities on our sites and not just forums. We need to encourage people to become community members instead of just users. This means they need a vested stake in the community. Online these stakes are presented in customization and allowing people to create their own spaces. This gives them interest in the community and allows them to feel proud and show it to their friends. In the end it will help your site grow as well. This also means we need to go where the people are. Their phones, televisions, game consoles. We need to follow whether they are at home, work or play. They need to be as comfortable visiting our sites no matter what is going on.

Going forward there are three things I feel forums need to embrace in order to prosper. These are social media, mobile media and me media. The last one highlights the user and their contributions. It allows them to build their spaces and controls who they interact with. Forum software needs to become community software to allow this to happen. We need to allow users to create protected spaces where they can control who they share information with to foster "me media". We need to encourage new ways of categorization like tags and keywords so people can find things easier. We need to interconnect with social media services so that we are no longer islands.

Hopefully in the next decade, we'll catch up.

 

Wow, I think Wayne has a great post right there touching on the things in the back of administrator's minds.

I personally don't think forums will become a dying breed per se. I think the ways in which people interact with forums will change. The Facebook Connect mod is one example of this, a sort of universal login tool. It allows the Facebook network of users to instantly become part of forums and allows a user's posting to be appear in a user's facebook page. I think that this might promote a future whereby Facebook (or any future tech-savy social network) becomes a central hubb and specific forums are extremities of this larger integrated creature. This isn't necessarily bad for a forum, it may actually help expand the user base and bring in new users who might not otherwise find your site.

As far as social network sites swallowing up forums, I can't see that happening at least for the short term (4 to 5 years). The only reason being that Facebook and MySpace are massive entities. To absorb the functions of forums and essentially become a global forum on every topic is a daunting task from an administrative, technical and financial standpoint. I'm sure Facebook could do it if they invested the time in it, but I think that users will still venture beyond the walls of the social network and seek smaller, more personalized interactions that forums provide. That's my opinion ^_^

 

Great posts, Wayne and Imperial.

I'd hate to think that this might actually be true, though. So maybe I should steer clear this discussion. :p

 

I wouldn't necessarily say that discussion forums are a "dying breed" - on the contrary, there are still a plethora of communities alive and kicking today that have been around for years... regardless of the fact that these larger social networking services are trying to muscle them out of the way. In the end, I truly do believe that it comes down to the overall "quality" of the environment in which members interact within. Social networking is an excellent way to stay in touch and communicate with friends and family... but it's rare to see detailed forum content (i.e. threads and posts) on one's personal profile page on, say, MySpace.

 

I don't see forums as a completely dying breed either. I see that to survive they need to adapt and evolve over time. This means being aware of ongoing trends and learning how to pick out the winners among them and dismiss the fads. Individual MySpace pages are probably a bad example for community but the Groups can have good information. For other examples look at LinkedIn's groups or LiveJournal's communities.

Those who do this will be able to survive. Those that do not will become spam-ridden cesspools and abandoned... Okay there will be some middle ground in there but if people don't react their forums will not respond well.

 

I don't think that the social networking services are trying to muscle them out of the way either. I used to think that forums were in one group and the sn services were a breed of their own.

Now I can see where they can work together very well, and in fact, this may be a necessity for either to survive for the long haul.

 

The thing I see with Forums and SN's are that they are in different boats. The reason people prefer forums is because they are sort of fantasies, they are easy to access, very customizable, and the allure of anonymity is what attracts people. You can come in, lurk and no one needs to know you were there. Or you can be the most popular member and people don't need to know who you actually are.

SN's are too real, you operate within people you actually know, and always deal with your actual image. This might be good for some, but to others, this just doesn't have the feeling of a comminity that they're looking for.

The way I see it, people looking for online communities will make no less than 2 choices. 1 will be a forum, and the other a SN, rarely will they choose only one (although the older generation will). We tried implementing facebook groups and connections to our forum, but half of the people used MySpace only, and some none at all, but their bases were still the forum.

A forum is a place for the more invested person, or fan, there will always be the "Hardcores" that want to discuss things and shoot the shit with other "hardcores", SN however, are not. Many hardcores even consider the SN groups to be a place filled with "averages" who don't care or know much about their topics, and SN members think Forums are too serious and nerdy. This is why I believe they can coexist and forums will continue to thrive.

We just need to maintain a consistent level of upgrade and evolution.

 

I think that you pretty much hit the nail on the head with this statement.

 

So has anyone noticed any trends developing with forums?

 

Forums won't die off completely, they will evolve, blogging thanks to paid vbulletin addon is one way that forums are evolving, more and more plugins are being created so that videos can be embedded into posts.

People don't want to read just plain text anymore they want quick and easy ways to digest information and videos can help with that.

 

Ah yes, videos. I'm on a 24/7 hunt for gathering any and every type of video embedding mod to enhance my board. Members love videos, especially streams, so the more the merrier.

You just have to make sure the members have everything they need right there on your board so they don't go elsewhere to get it.

I like the new 3.8, with its friend feature, visitor messaging, albums, and adaptability.

 

If you're using vBulletin 3.6 or higher, you only need one mod for every video system out there. AME. She is a sweet addon.

AME 2.5 - Media Embedding for posts, sigs, vm's, groups and blogs - vBulletin.org Forum

 

I'll agree with that. AME is fantastic.

 

As will I. I love this modification - it makes life so much easier.

 

Wow, how did I miss AME? I've seen the thread for it many times, but never bothered to try it. Great great stuff!

 

I agree with you Kevin. Forums will not die out -as long as they keep up with the "social" revolution.