Facebook groups have become increasingly popular in recent years, with more than 1.8 billion people using them monthly. It's no surprise; they're well-designed and make it easy to follow up on conversations. They tend to focus exclusively on a certain topic, meaning that users can get information or conversations about specific topics without even having to leave the Facebook app. Brad is a staff writer for Gaming & Social Media, interested in a variety of lifestyle-based topics.
He often writes articles about the relationship between technology and people, and has a first-class degree in digital marketing. But is it worth the effort to maintain an online forum? This is a question that can only be determined by the nature and size of the forum and its level of success. This is one of the main reasons why social networks have replaced online forums, as they can normally be used in both a mobile application and a browser, while forums can only be used in browsers. Before social media took over the Internet, message boards were perhaps the most essential way for people to meet online and talk about what they had in mind.
Reddit is a relative of traditional forums, but you won't see threads that stay active for more than a decade or any that have a pulse of more than a day or two in the busiest subreddits. I'm really happy that the community is somehow holding together, and I crossed my fingers; others who found a safe space in the message boards can also keep theirs together, including members of the PlayStation forums. The forum should be necessary for your own website or business, or else it's probably not worth it. With social media becoming the dominant form of communication years ago, forums will become even more obscure as time goes on.
The Internet is a fast-moving place, and while social networks tend to adapt and change with the times, forums remain fairly static. While you might have the same experience in a forum, social media platforms are more adept at keeping users' attention. In reality, this only applies to technical products and services, since non-digital products are unlikely to arouse suspicion on the Internet among customers who have purchased or interacted with them offline. Many formerly prominent destinations are closing their doors, including the message board that I called my home online for more than a decade. This, combined with the popularity of the Facebook platform in general, means that its groups feature is extremely popular and these were also the main reasons why online forums fell by the wayside over the past decade.
Of course, this isn't a strict rule, but forums are usually dedicated to one topic, even if forums have sections for many topics. Perhaps the community will meet again on another message board; otherwise, it might be difficult to maintain the essence of what makes forum-based communities special. It's clear that social media has taken over as the primary form of communication online. But does this mean that online forums are completely dead? Not necessarily; there are still many active forums out there that provide valuable information and discussion on various topics. However, it's important to consider whether maintaining an online forum is worth your time and effort before investing in one.
