I think social networks, mobile apps, video sites like YouTube or Netflix, and live streaming sites like Twitch could be one of the many reason that a lot of forums, and blogs are not as active today compared to a few years ago before Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Myspace were as popular.
People now has a lot of things to do on their PC, smartphone/tablet, and Smart TV, and they may choose not to spend their time on forums, and blogs which are mostly text and picture based.
There are also now a lot of mobile apps and desktop programs which make it very easy for most people to post on their forum, and blogs like WordPress, Tumblr or Blogspot, so there is a lot of content online, so I feel it is harder for web users to find your site because of the amount of blogs and forums online.
Oh yeah, forums have without a doubt taken a hit in the last few years in activity. I truly do wonder if forums will be even be a means in ten years for social use.
Oh yeah, forums have without a doubt taken a hit in the last few years in activity. I truly do wonder if forums will be even be a means in ten years for social use.
Hopefully, forums will still be active in a few years, and not less active. I think forums may still be actively used by some people in ten years because there are still a lot of people who use forums.
I think they kinda cater to different audiences. I think social networks have taken some activity from the more casual members (i.e. casual gamers, casual music listeners) but forums are still far better for those who want more in-depth discussion.
I do think social networks have caused a decreased usage in forums. However, I feel that forums still have a good life ahead of them. I think forums provide a way to have more in-depth discussions and better communities.
Definitely getting less and the less each year with the building of the social network services. And in away I hate it. But again Social media can definitely help getting traffic by posting tweets and comments everyday and link it to your website
Oh yeah, forums have without a doubt taken a hit in the last few years in activity. I truly do wonder if forums will be even be a means in ten years for social use.
Well, they might adapt to survive. The guys from Invisionower intend to somehow incorporate forums in apps. They want to make everything so mobile-friendly that forums might compete with social network apps.
A bit, though it will never wipe out forums as a whole. Remember, nothing ever completely dies, not even stuff like Usenet or IRC or old style messenger networks. There will always be a place for forums as an area for dedicated fans of a subject to discuss it with others who share similar interests. Or heck, for those people who consider social networks as too censored and anti freedom of speech. Or who don't want to give out real information online.
But they've definitely taken some activity away from forum communities.
I do agree with this. A gaming forum was shut down as I remember because of the popularity of SNS. With that, the gaming forum made use of Facebook as their site for giving game updates and addressing concerns. But I think even with the decrease of activity in forums nowadays, there are still other things that is at the advantage of the forums. I can't point it out but I believe there is, and if it brought out, maybe people will go back to the use of forums, which I believe is more secure than SNS.
