Growing a forum community in 2023
- Thread starter ArtG
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It will only get worse and the forums will not survive in their present form
AnjaC
Active member
I hear that since more than 10 years and we are still alive....
The old forums will still be there, but it won't be the same as it used to be. The new ones will have a hard time.
PatriotGB
Well-known member
This chart is virtually meaningless without more context / information. What is the source? What does "interest" mean? And how was it measured?
Note that the decline started in 2009. That's when Facebook hit its stride and grew exponentially. I'd like to see the trend of that chart after 2020. I wouldn't expect a big change, but maybe a subtle tick upwards.
Note that both charts end at 2020. Google "Facebook user decline," and you'll find plenty of recent articles about that.
Facebook Set to Lose 1.4 Million Users This Year Amidst Rapid Decline
It is estimated that Facebook’s US user count by the end of the year will be around 178.3 million.
Personally, I quit FB cold turkey almost 2 years ago after over a decade of VERY active use. In so doing, I abandoned my primary means of communicating with friends and family. It had to be done.
I believe the pendulum is swinging back to forums for special interest groups. FB fell on its own sword and continues to do so.
The special interest forums where I have been a member for the same time period have not shown any signs of waning. They are growing. And now I have my own niche forum that is growing very nicely. In a week, my forum will be 10 months old.
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It is much harder to grow a community nowadays with social media to compete with. The only forums that thrive today are the ones that have already been established at this point. Not much can rectify that since most people use social media over a dedicated site on a topic. There are very few instances in that an average person would use a dedicated community over social media, and I think that's where the problem lies for community growth.
However, our company has succeeded in specific niches, and we have grown our communities significantly through user promotion and a little advertising.
However, our company has succeeded in specific niches, and we have grown our communities significantly through user promotion and a little advertising.
ArtG
Active member
I don't believe it's a zero-sum game between forums and social media. Yes, it certainly isn't like the old days where you can build it and they will come. Very different today.
However, I believe that in most niches, social media and forums can co-exist and complement each other. For example, my niche is freshwater planted aquariums. Most of the activity has moved to Facebook Groups over the years. I started two months ago focusing on the needs of that community that social media can't fulfill. We've been growing. Slowly but that's OK.
On my site, a member can create a diary of their aquarium and have people see it, offer help, support, etc. People can find longer articles on subjects and participate in photo contests, etc. None of these things work well on Facebook where you really can't post more than 2 -3 lines into the constant waterfall of messages. If you get one or two valuable responses, you feel good.
I encourage my members to use both as intended. Longer talks, relationship building, diaries, contests, etc should be on forums. When they just want to go to a less thinking more eye candy environment, then Facebook and Instagram are there for them.
However, I believe that in most niches, social media and forums can co-exist and complement each other. For example, my niche is freshwater planted aquariums. Most of the activity has moved to Facebook Groups over the years. I started two months ago focusing on the needs of that community that social media can't fulfill. We've been growing. Slowly but that's OK.
On my site, a member can create a diary of their aquarium and have people see it, offer help, support, etc. People can find longer articles on subjects and participate in photo contests, etc. None of these things work well on Facebook where you really can't post more than 2 -3 lines into the constant waterfall of messages. If you get one or two valuable responses, you feel good.
I encourage my members to use both as intended. Longer talks, relationship building, diaries, contests, etc should be on forums. When they just want to go to a less thinking more eye candy environment, then Facebook and Instagram are there for them.
PatriotGB
Well-known member
That WAS true... for a while. It is my belief that the pendulum is swinging, and swinging HARD, back the other way.
Why? Because "big tech" social media has gone off the deep end with censorship and "cancel" culture.
Private forums don't have that issue. Also forums like these are FAR more organized, better-archived, and more searchable for information than the likes of Facebook.
PatriotGB
Well-known member
That was true for my niche, as well... until big tech started deleting and canceling groups in my niche. So, I guess that's lucky for me! LOL!
PatriotGB
Well-known member
That was then (Dec 2022).
This is now. My forum turned 1 year old on Feb 26. So, today it's about 13 months and a week old.
CedricV
Well-known member
I can’t complain. We’ve been open sinds 30th September ‘22, at the end of the month marking 7 months.
admin-junkies.com
Admin Junkies - Admin, SEO & Webmaster Community
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I can’t complain. We’ve been open sinds 30th September ‘22, at the end of the month marking 7 months.
Admin Junkies - Admin, SEO & Webmaster Community
Admin, SEO & Webmaster Forum Community
View attachment 284333
I really like the design on your forum. Is it custom?
Also here's an update on the stats of our forum since last time:
CedricV
Well-known member
Ravenfreak
Member
I once tried this approach with a well established Facebook group I have. I had opened a forum a few years after creating the group to try and eventually move off of Facebook completely, but unfortunately I only got 20 members to join out of the thousands I had in the group. I didn't want to pay for hosting anymore, so I canceled my plan and closed the forum down. I completely agree, the group administration tools aren't that great. Now I feel we have another "threat" to forums, Discord. I've seen a few communities move from forums to Discord, and I'm just not as active in these communities as I once was because I prefer forums. Certain communities thrive much better on forums, and I think many people fail to realize that. They end up jumping to what "everyone else uses" and leave forums behind.
Cashisking
Member
Wow ! this thread was certainly a good read with a lot of input and advice.
I too have had many forums in my days before Facebook became a house hold name & even before this lot came onto the scene, it was still hard to get members to join the forums.
Me and my brother are 65 years old and we love to moan what is going on around the world these days- so we thought, there must be other people out there our age wanting to do the same and not use Facebook, as it's all " Look at me and look where I am on holiday ". and those selfies are driving us nuts !!!! using all these filters to make them younger
So we decided to start a forum and call it "The Ventroom" not just for moaning, but with other interesting subjects
We have no idea how this is going to take of, but we said we will give it a go and see what happens after one year.
I have around 500 friends on my Facebook - so I put an add on there about the forum ( didn't say it was my forum ) and I never got one single like !
But when I put a photo of my dog on my Facebook - received around 56 likes.
People are so addictive to Facebook right now, maybe a wee bit brainwashed- I must admit they eventually lured me to open my account, but my daughter kind of helped with that - but I could close my Facebook down tomorrow and not lose any sleep.
I have been there, done it and bought the T shirt - but this time it's different, I am doing it with my brother.
We both live in different countries and we both have been through difficult times recently - so starting this forum is a wee adventure for us.
So we will see what happens and thanks Xenforo for building that stage for us.
I too have had many forums in my days before Facebook became a house hold name & even before this lot came onto the scene, it was still hard to get members to join the forums.
Me and my brother are 65 years old and we love to moan what is going on around the world these days- so we thought, there must be other people out there our age wanting to do the same and not use Facebook, as it's all " Look at me and look where I am on holiday ". and those selfies are driving us nuts !!!! using all these filters to make them younger
So we decided to start a forum and call it "The Ventroom" not just for moaning, but with other interesting subjects
We have no idea how this is going to take of, but we said we will give it a go and see what happens after one year.
I have around 500 friends on my Facebook - so I put an add on there about the forum ( didn't say it was my forum ) and I never got one single like !
But when I put a photo of my dog on my Facebook - received around 56 likes.
People are so addictive to Facebook right now, maybe a wee bit brainwashed- I must admit they eventually lured me to open my account, but my daughter kind of helped with that - but I could close my Facebook down tomorrow and not lose any sleep.
I have been there, done it and bought the T shirt - but this time it's different, I am doing it with my brother.
We both live in different countries and we both have been through difficult times recently - so starting this forum is a wee adventure for us.
So we will see what happens and thanks Xenforo for building that stage for us.
Gizmoandsooz
Well-known member
Social media is full of serial pests.
Forums are good to have with your mates.
Forums are good to have with your mates.
Forums need to learn from social media. Not in order to become social media but to learn how to compete better with social media. There are some things social media does better than forums and some things it does a lot worse. Learn from the things social media does better and use that knowledge to make forums better. Having a UI from the late 1990s doesn't help bring young people on board.
Forums have been on life support for around a decade now. It's going to take some real innovation to turn that decline around.
Forums have been on life support for around a decade now. It's going to take some real innovation to turn that decline around.
PatriotGB
Well-known member
I will persist in my disagreement that "forums are on life support." Some are, perhaps. But, I'm observing a significant decline in the "big tech" social media sites. People are growing very tired of the selective / biased censorship based in wokeism. Very very tired of it.
I see this as a huge opportunity for private forums. Though many forums are being bought up by large corporations, who engage in the same wokeism as the big tech sites like Facebook. But us private / individual owners can do (or not) as we see fit.
I've mentioned this before.... My forum does not engage in wokeism, censorship, or overbearing moderation. I don't care if something posted is politically "incorrect." I don't "bleep" out adult language. Who are we really fooling with that ****? <--- See what I did there? You were undoubtedly able to fill in that bleeped out word without skipping a beat. Your brain automagically does it. So, again... who are we fooling? We're adults!
I engage in very little moderation. Almost none. Rather, I treat members as the adults they are and let them work out their differences if any. I'm trying to remember if I've ever deleted or edited a member's message. I don't think I have.
Maybe I'm just "lucky." Or maybe I'm doing something right. My site is not huge. But here are my stats. My forum began 1 year, 5 months, 24 days ago. So about 100 new members per month. About 1900 messages per month. Not bad, I think.
I see this as a huge opportunity for private forums. Though many forums are being bought up by large corporations, who engage in the same wokeism as the big tech sites like Facebook. But us private / individual owners can do (or not) as we see fit.
I've mentioned this before.... My forum does not engage in wokeism, censorship, or overbearing moderation. I don't care if something posted is politically "incorrect." I don't "bleep" out adult language. Who are we really fooling with that ****? <--- See what I did there? You were undoubtedly able to fill in that bleeped out word without skipping a beat. Your brain automagically does it. So, again... who are we fooling? We're adults!
I engage in very little moderation. Almost none. Rather, I treat members as the adults they are and let them work out their differences if any. I'm trying to remember if I've ever deleted or edited a member's message. I don't think I have.
Maybe I'm just "lucky." Or maybe I'm doing something right. My site is not huge. But here are my stats. My forum began 1 year, 5 months, 24 days ago. So about 100 new members per month. About 1900 messages per month. Not bad, I think.
CedricV
Well-known member
I agree with you @PatriotGB — there’s still loads of room for forums. Having an active admin community confirms that.
We’ve been open for almost 11 months.
We’ve been open for almost 11 months.
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