Uniting millions of fans across an unfathomable number of different interests, forums once were the heartbeat of the internet. My question is, are they still? If not, what exactly happened and can they ever again reign supreme over social networking?
Before we move forward, heed this warning; don’t take this out of context, it isn’t about bitterness, it’s mostly nostalgic. Now, allow me to tackle social networking a little bit.
I can’t imagine how social networking has come to surpass the common community of these forums I would regular. Sure, they’re neat in aspects, but in my opinion, they’ve completely dumbed-down the cyber experience. That’s an experience that I sorely miss. Where new people to the internet (noobs) once headed to a search engine to find like-minded folk, they now often look to Twitter to get their information and commentate. Where’s the heart, I ask? Not only does that not actually pull us together, more often than not, all you’ll see are hashtags and meme’s completely clogging the personal experience that could be involved. Seriously, 140 characters is honestly nothing more than a text and we all know how horribly wrong texting can go. I can’t even say what I want to say in one text most times… I’m admittedly wordy. The closest Twitter comes to being community-like is when people hashtag the same thing enough to make it a top trend. But are we actually talking to each other in that scenario or are we all more or less posting our thoughts as individuals in a very disconnected fashion? In a forum, in a threaded topic, one person will start the conversation and others speak personally with all others involved while still acknowledging the original poster and their thoughts. There’s no need to use hashtags once you decide what you’re there for, you hop in a topic and meet new people, share questions, opinions and interests. You, believe it or not, actually get to know people during the process of not being limited to 140 words and hashtags. Imagine that.
So moving on, I’m sure the readers here are of all different ages, so let me ask you, what forums do you visit? Do you prefer the personal experience or is social networking more your thing? Why? I legitimately like to hear why people go those different directions. I understand that you can use social networking for an adequate personal experience, but for anyone who has ever forum-frequented, you’ll know that there is a huge difference in the flow of things and that it lacks the feeling of community. It’s very much like standing in a crowd on Twitter where-as a forum is much more of a convention-style experience.
All this comes about because there are literally over 20 forums that I used to regular and even the ones that are still going are not pumping out threads and posts the way that they used to. Some aren’t moving at all. Forums that were once filled with life have come to a motionless stop. Some might say it’s because there are better ways to communicate while others may disagree. I clearly disagree but that alone certainly won’t keep these forums I used to post at every day alive.
With all of this in mind, are websites that don’t sell you products, review those products or search those products in line to be the next thing out? With new sites popping up every day offering you only a slight difference in content from the hundreds to thousands of other sites like them, what will make some timeless and what will send others packing? Much like forums, sites can and will stand the test of time if they’re properly attended to with a centralized subject and people who care enough to talk about it. Though there may be many similar in about every field, any site that cares enough about it’s content can survive. Where social sites are driven completely by attention span, truly focused sites and blogs and forums can withstand all of the social networking comings and goings.
But hey, they’re both good for their intended purpose, I just hope that social networking gets some perspective on how skinny it is. Nothing replaces real life socializing. Sometimes that’s for the better, sometimes for the worse. At least on Twitter you get the opportunity to tell people like Bob “Sparkplug” Holly how his 1990’s WWF Racing Team leotard changed your life (seriously though, he’s good people and those were different times).
Ohhh, I could write about this all day! You’re not alone in thinking that forums are on a downward slope, it’s something I painstakingly notice every day. What’s worse is that it isn’t even their fault, they’re innocent in all of this social media mess. One thing I’m not sure about just yet is whether or not it’s because social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are actually an easier (mobile apps and sites like this one having integration into them) way to communicate or if it’s because they’re so fast paced, active and simple. I noticed that you have sharing buttons and this comment form has social registration options.
By design, they seem alright. But just as the heart of your post puts it, I am absolutely sure that they lack a true sense of actually getting to know a regular group of people that joined for the exact same reason you did. We all join social sites for different reasons, even if they’re vaguely the same. I join to keep up with friends and family but still like to put in the effort when it comes to getting my news by going to specialty sites like this one that are focused solely on the things I care about.
I hope things turn around, I miss actually talking with my friends I’ve met online and others interested in the same things as me through a website/forum. There are still a few that I’ve gone to for years that are thriving but a handful of the smaller ones are falling off sort of like mom-and-pop stores.
Do you keep up with each other via social sites? The old friends you mentioned, I mean. I’m curious to how the relationship is as of now, though I don’t mean that to sound creepy. Haha. I just mean that I still speak to a couple from my forum-past but it just isn’t the same. We say simple hello’s and what-not now where we used to get in big, long discussions in topics (and private messages) about everything. It’s definitely different for me now.
You’re okay for asking. *lol* It’s not the same, we hardly talk anymore which is a bummer. I’m not a frequent Twitterer so we usually just send emails back and forth here or there and that’s about it. It’s weird because we used to be like family. I don’t blame social networks for it exactly but I do think they drove interest away from the sites I used to spend way too much time on, inadvertently causing the closeness to fade. So there’s that.
I just wanted to chime and say that I too miss the forum experience over social networking. You struck all the right cords on why internet forums were once a great thing, but sadly I feel like they’re past the point of recovery. Not to say they’re completely dead though, I always think forums will be around, but I think I know the heart of the problem and it might be too late to change it.
The biggest player in forum downfalls is the smart phone age. The reason why services like Facebook and Twitter have soared to success are because they were designed with handheld devices specifically in mind. The 140 character limit of Twitter harkens back to the beginning when text messages were limited to the same character limit. On top of that, they are integrated so perfectly that there is virtually no learning curve or display frustrations. Everything fits and scrolls just the way it’s supposed to.
Forums were left behind because no one ever designed an app that allows you to browse and post to forums with the seamless ease that Facebook and Twitter offer. There are a few forum apps out there now, but the free versions are littered with ads and still fail to offer a seamless experience. What’s worse, the two best ones out there that supposedly offer the best experience require payment. One will let you browse only, no posting unless you pay. The other is strictly payment only. I forget the names of these apps but I recall they were both like 6.99 each. I understand development costs, but that price is astronomical for what type of apps they are. If I’m gonna pay 6.99 it’d better be a hot new game, and even then that’s asking a lot.
Sure you can look at your favorite forum on the browser in your phone, but then you’re fighting with scrolling horizontally back and forth to read something, or the browser clogging up when you try to type something of considerable length. Even the forums that have a mobile version are littered with problems like this.
Sure we all still have a PC, but with smart phones as powerful as laptops, many users rarely even sit down to their computer unless they have to type something lengthy, submit an assignment, etc. I’m guilty of it too, the only reason I ever sit down at the computer is for blogging. Why bother sitting at the computer chair when I can do everything I want relaxing on the couch or in bed?
On the plus side of social networking, you are connected to virtually everyone in the world rather than just the user base of your favorite forum. I like the use of hashtags in that I can link my post and have it seen by pretty much everyone that happens to be looking for that particular subject.
But you’re right about the difficulty to form any kind of lasting friendships. I enjoy Twitter, and I’ve had lots of great conversations on there, but afterwards the user on the other end drifts away to focus on their other fads. The lasting online friendships I still have are from playing online console games or from the forums I frequented before the smart phone age. Nothing new to report.
Twitter for me has become more of a tool to spread the word about whatever projects I’m working on or happen to be blogging about. It’s a selfish experience, but again the ease of use and the countless connections it brings to your content can’t be ignored. Sadly at this point I think we’re all in the same boat. It’s an effortless way to scream to the world “HEY LOOK AT ME!” and the smart phone generation is addicted to this kind of attention.
I honestly don’t know of a way to turn it around at this point. I have an example from work when I was trying to get someone to join a forum. I explained you can even register with your facebook account, no hassle of coming up with something new. The reply I got was “I tried it and it asked for my facebook stuff and I don’t know, it was just hard and I said forget it.”
People can’t be asked to visit a different page and re-enter their login information again. It’s an added step for a service that Facebook has already universally provided them. It’s lazy and sad on their part 🙁
This reply has gotten stupidly long, so I’ll close by saying forums will never truly go away. There will always be users dedicated enough to certain content to warrant visits of a forum. Even though the numbers aren’t what they were back in the 90’s and early 2000’s for post count, every site should still hold on to a forum for those of us that still remember their magic.
You definitely touched on something huge that I didn’t really touch on much; the mobile movement. You’re absolutely right, we’re in such a digital age that it has to be at the finger tips and working completely and easily or it probably won’t keep any kind of interest. Another thing you mentioned is that social sites definitely do have huge advantages. Sharing your work, like you mentioned, is much easier that way. The audience is definitely far larger than you could expect in a topic on a forum, you’re literally with the opportunity to reach millions if buzz got strong enough. I fear you’re right though, I’m not sure forums will ever make a comeback. Successful, sure, but I don’t see any forum ever reaching the heights of Twitter. Twitter will burn out eventually but something even simpler and faster will take its place and further dumb down the experience and further separate us on a social level I’m afraid.
Registration is just too hard! *lol* How dare I be asked to actually enter information, that’d be like real time investment, didn’t that die with forums? You’re so right about that. I tried and tried to get one friend in particular to join a forum I used to spend time on because I knew they would like it because it was a shared interest. I remember the next day when I asked why I never heard from them on there they said there were too many questions and something about an activation email so they just never went to click the link from their email to finish up. That’s just appalling to me! Imagine if no one would ever eat because they had to cook. I guess that would explain why fast food chains are blazing eh? I consider my time as valuable as anyone else but even I can spare the 2 minutes it takes to register. Eesh!
Call me old fashioned but I don’t care how smart my phone is as long as I can make a phone call. That’s not a shot at what you said that’s just my opinion on this mobile age. I like the convenience that you mentioned but I don’t feel lost without it. And I’m not old or judgmental but I do think that laziness and lack of motivation are dragging us all down. You are right on the money with your reply. We should all three just merge our thoughts into one long post. *lol*