RobinHood
Well-known member
Websites such as Topix make it harder for forums, as they seem to have such a large reach they dominate discussion. But what always amazes me is the way people will sit there and have whole conversations despite the original post being created by an algorithm, as is the case on topix, and not a real person.
Can you explain Topix to me and link me? Googling it results in some internal corporate systems by the looks of it.
You could try something like Mighty Bell
mightybell.com
The founder also co-founded Ning
https://www.ning.com/
Mightybell is kind of like having your own private facebook group outside of facebook.
It comes complete with native phone apps, which is a massive selling point IMO. I've tested the iOS one and it's pretty smooth.
It's free for up to 1000 members, then there's paid plans above that or if you want to get your user data, monetise with user memberships or insert your own advertising.
Because it's locked in you won't get SEO benefits, but you can definitely cultivate and create a community on it with your own culture, and there's potential to monetise down the road.
I've been battling with trying to create a new forum for the last 5 months, it's bloody hard work these days with facebook groups. Like @=MGN=RedEagle said, unless you already have access to an audience, it's incredibly difficult to get new signups and then have them create new content.
I'm lucky that I made friends with the admin of the main facebook groups for my forum. One has 2,500 members and one has nearly 1,000. Without his support helping to promote it and allowing my cross posting of content to the group there's no way it would have taken off (and it still hasn't, activity is low, but I've managed to get about 500 members so far and there's some good content on there).
I talk to the members of the group a lot, trying to post original content there too, and one of them said last week that they flat out can't be bothered with the hassle of forums anymore. The big social media players and their apps are just so easy to use.
I feel a new forum to work these days I feel you really need to offer more than just a discussion platform. You need extra features that are useful and that they can't find elsewhere. Sadly that often means expensive custom coding.
If I wasn't concerned with trying to get my site to rank in search, I'd definitely try an out of the box solution that includes native phone apps. Something like mighty bell.
Last edited: