Are web forums going to die?

Well, except for Digital Point forums, and some other big ones, I think starting a web forum now is not as frequent as before..

People are more likely to create a Facebook page, they will have more interactions there than creating and marketing a web forum..

What do you think? I personally prefer being on a forum than being on Facebook.. but..

 

Simple, one line answer to such questions for all kind of sites...... only quality will live, rest will die.

 

I think that forums were the first social media going all the way back to the 1990's. I used to be on Usernet back then. I prefer a forum like DP and do not even use FB. I also used to like the email newsgroups in which members could email replies to a variety of topics. A lot of people would only look at a daily email digest, but I used to like to receive them all in real time. Of course, I would only subscribe to very targeted newsgroups to limit the email traffic.

Bottomline, I doubt that forums will ever go away as they are a type of social media that people find useful.

 

At this point in time? I say no.

People are always looking for answers to problems they have. And when they find answers that work for them, they now become ones that can help someone else with a similar problem. I believe that forums are a place that like minded people can get together and share to better everyone's life in small and big ways. Don't you think?

In addition, it helps people like us that are online to know the problems and come up with unique solutions to address them.

Leilani

 

15 years ago it was hard to find many answers, so people use forum to get some value information. Now its hard to find question that don't have precise reply. That is why people stop to ask forum question, and use it.

 

Forums are not dead, but they are suffering from an identity crisis right now. There was a time when forums were where all the activity happened on the web. If you wanted real time discussion, you found it on forums. If you wanted social interaction, you found it on forums. If you were seeking high quality user generated content, you found it on forums. Nowadays the proliferation of social media sites has caused a competitive dynamic that has reduced overall time spent per session on forums, but this dynamic has also created an opportunity for forums to focus on their core strengths.

 

No they will not. Matter of fact, there are a lot of forums in the top 100,000 of alexa if that means something to you. The design of the platform cannot be replicated with Facebook. The level of interactivity is just not the same.

 

Forums wont die but have outlived their peak time. There are so many other ways of doing what the forums tried to do, some are much more sleeker infact.

 

You guys are missing a couple valuable points.... Your typical usenet forum is pretty much dead like IRC is for chatting... However, we now chat in the form of text messaging, tweets, instagrams, pinterests and mobile apps like kik, whatsapp, and fb chat... Forums are now like online social networks or online clubs that focus on your hobbies or interests.... I belong to a couple web development/marketing forums, Porsche forum and luxury watch forums.... All of those forums offer much more than just random topics... They are clubs...

 

I like forums better because they are more organized and can have several categories. A facebook page lets everything get lost down the chute.

 

Facebook and other social media is just another way for brands to communicate/engage with their customers. They don't replace forums.

 

The popularity of web forums may be dwindling but it is not going away anytime soon. Social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter give people instant connections with their friends whereas forums provide a wider audience and database of information. Depending on what your intent is, providing information on several platforms can a positive outlook for your brand. Hope this helps!

 

This is all about forum sites and Digitalpoint is not exempted here in the issue. Compared to Facebook page, Forum sites that are well established like forumsdigitalpoint is more effective when it comes to learning, knowledge, experience, and real time application of latest strategies in the related field.

 

I would like to see forums evolve into something else. I don't feel like there has been much innovation when it comes to these websites.

 

I think starting a forum is certainly harder now than it was years ago because there are so many in existence. I see people wanting to do forums with similar concepts to digitalpoint but why? They offer nothing new. They hire a few people to write posts in broken English that provide no real value. They just waste time and clutter the internet. I guess some do it hoping that they can sell it.

Facebook groups are great for quick interactions. What I don't like about groups is that there's not much organization. So people come along and ask the same questions over and over or because it is facebook, posts are not always shown in order or might be hidden. Yes, I realize that newbies come to forums and post the same things over and over too but it seems worse on Facebook.

Facebook could add forums. MySpace had forums a decade ago although they were not the best, there were a number of decent forum communities there.

 

Yes I concur with that point ie. web forums are going to die, infact many have died.
The reason being copy cats went into the same arena with wrong objectives.
Long term business with genuine content that benefit people will thrive.

 

forums are a lot harder than 10-15 years ago if you're thinking of launching one. I think only the big boys will survive. Most people google questions and a lot of old forums that have been SEO for a while will show results and get traffic.

 

I don't think forums will die but I do know it's harder to get into the game now because the big sharks in forums have the main attention of users. If you already have on large community on said niche, what makes you think I'm gonna switch to your smaller forum?

It's sink or swim and chances are...you're sinking.

 

Web forums will not die if quality backlinks were on it. And if all forum members were active with community discussions I really don't think web forums will die.

 

You should promote it as much as you can.

Floyd Arthur