Why have blogs?

[Gabby]

I'm debating whether to add a blog feature but doesn't this sort of defeat the purpose of having a forum? If members can interact with one another in their own blog on my forum, why have the forum?

Twak amungst yaselfs... I'm feeling vaklempt.

Gabby

 

[Digital Doctor]

Well ... there are two very distinct types of Blogs.

(1) Blogs like Wordpress. (One blog, has categorization).
(2) or Blogs like: vB Blogs or XF Blogs (Multiple User Blogs).

(1) Can be useful. Most sites should have it.
(2) I don't think are useful (IMO).

I think XenPorta - http://8wayrun.com/ is a (1) and I think that is useful to highlight recent important information.

 

[Forsaken]

I'm debating whether to add a blog feature but doesn't this sort of defeat the purpose of having a forum? If members can interact with one another in their own blog on my forum, why have the forum?

Twak amungst yaselfs... I'm feeling vaklempt.

Gabby

Blogs tend to be more personal, and give the author greater control. They also shouldn't be confused with threads, which are focused more on discussion, where blogs would be more focused on the original content, and to a lesser degree the comments.

Many users who do use blogs, enjoy having their own personal space on the site that is just them. I've seen sites that have monetized off of giving blogs as a benefit of subscribing, or by including advertisements that got high click through rates due to the placement.

It mostly depends on how you use them, and how your users react to them.

 

[Jake Bunce]

What Forsaken said.

Blogs are organized per user. Forums are organized per subject category. Blogs are more personal. Forums are more community-based.

 

[Gabby]

Thank you guys.... I'm just worried about blogs taking away from forum content and counts. I didn't implement this on my past forums but I'm considering them now. Never thought of having them as a paid benefit. Something to think about.

 

[craigiri]

Blogs are useless unless you or other members are good writers and continuously write and update them.

99% of blogs go nowhere due to the above.

 

[Forsaken]

Thank you guys.... I'm just worried about blogs taking away from forum content and counts. I didn't implement this on my past forums but I'm considering them now. Never thought of having them as a paid benefit. Something to think about.

LN Blog adds to message count, so that isn't a worry. Blogs are also a way to create new content that is more personal original content, which will get picked up by search engines.

Blogs are useless unless you or other members are good writers and continuously write and update them.

99% of blogs go nowhere due to the above.

Every forum platform that has a blog feature/add-on generally has horrible integration, and users generally go without knowing anything about it. vBBlog for 3.x and early 4.x (Not sure if it has changed as I don't even visit vBulletin sites) is a perfect example; the integration was severely poor and users weren't able to find the content easily. IPB has a similar problem, and until 3.2 their design was complete and utter ass (Complete waste of white space).

With alerts, watch, the recent activity page / newsfeed all will keep the blog integrated (Onimua also has a few other plans, but I'll be killed if I mention any).

As far as content goes, people will use blogs if they know they're there, and if they have a reason to do so. Again, it depends on the niche, but most niches will use blogs if they're done correctly, and even when they're not.

 

[Cal]

More content, more options for your users. Users like places where they have freedoms, even if they don't use them.

 

[simbolo]

Content is king. As such, if your users will make good posts on their blogs within your site it'll help. If they just write nonsense then I wouldn't want the clutter. Just my opinion.