Are forum sites still popular in the age of facebook?

[Pet Shop Girl]

I have my own forum setup since 2006, had a spat with the former web host and then had to restart it from scratch in 2008, anyway, a lot of people tell me that people don't get on forums anymore because they are all on Facebook and twitter. What do you all think of that?

I mean I don't think that is true because this forum here started in 2003 and is still very popular now, Depeche Mode has their official one and there are a few fan forums that are popular. And a lot of other bands have official forums. They would not be creating them if they were not used anymore.

Not all fans will migrate to Facebook to talk about their favourite bands. A lot of the bands also have official facebook pages too. I pose that question simply because I need to make some changes to my site and there has not been much going on there. Some loyal people like former EIS member Biffo and some others that are on there a lot, but it used to have much more going on.

ANy opinions about forums not working out because of social media sites?

For example if I say that I were to close my site and then just use my facebook group for posting info, would that make sense?

[StevePSB]

What is Facebook?


StevePSB

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Pet Shop Girl,

Facebook isn't a good environment for forum-like discussion (yet!)

The challenge is differentiation... is there anyone at the forum capable of more than off-the-cuff quips? Is there anyone capable of responding to questions and engaging with others respectfully as people, rather than as comments on a screen? Is there enough going on (or enough depth) in the forum's subject matter to discuss in details?

Those are the kind of elements you'll need...

Retro.

[Pet Shop Girl]

Greetings Pet Shop Girl,

Facebook isn't a good environment for forum-like discussion (yet!)

The challenge is differentiation... is there anyone at the forum capable of more than off-the-cuff quips? Is there anyone capable of responding to questions and engaging with others respectfully as people, rather than as comments on a screen? Is there enough going on (or enough depth) in the forum's subject matter to discuss in details?

Those are the kind of elements you'll need...

Retro.

Hi Retro,

thanks for your response. I agree with you totally about how forums are still better to have discussions about bands and etc rather than facebook. I have my forum and people keep telling me that people don't like forums anymore that people just want to be on facebook and forums are obsolete. I however disagree with that and that is why I have kept my forum, but the thing is that my site has not had as much going on as it used to. Alot of the people I had on the forum are just on facebook these days and they keep telling me how they prefer it there. THat is the only reason I asked this question here. I will keep my forum the way it is and maybe I will just condense it and remove some of the sections. I have it with three subforums, one for Depeche Mode, another for PSB, and Erasure. I am guessing its too many sections for people to enjoy it, not sure but 95% of the people I talk to keep telling me that they prefer facebook.

Hi Steve, yeah I know what is facebook?!

I need more people like you Retro to get on my site and keep it going. Erasure has not forum presence anymore, this is the only PSB forum and DM just has their official one to be honest.

I invite you Retro to take a look at the site and give me your opinions about how you think I should change it up, www.erasure-petshopboys.org

Thanks!

[Vince]

I agree with Retro.

Each have their advantages

Forums:
a) provide anonymity
b) longer discussion points
c) ability to split/categorize news from photos for example
d) Maintain separate discussion threads

Social networking sites:
a) If you are on it, you can integrate receiving news about your fav band along with normal feed from friends (i.e., saving time logging into a forum separately)
b) Ability to quickly share a comment/on a pic/news
c) Ability to spread more music links, and help find friends who share your taste.
d) Get more people to like your favorite bands


At the end of the day, for me, I use FB for maintaining a tab on the news/info, and now visit the forums more rarely than 5 years ago, only to get the juicer details

[territorygal]

I've got a forum, too (not PSB-related):
http://yanksdownunder.net

A couple of years back, I set up a Facebook page only for the purpose of keeping people up to date in case the forum went offline for any reason. To my surprise, the Facebook page became even more popular than the forum site. I wouldn't say forums aren't working out, but it's definitely a lot quieter. People come around to find archived information and ask questions, but not really "chat" so much anymore.

Are you on The Admin Zone? Those guys always seem to have good ideas for breathing new life into your forum.

[Pet Shop Girl]

It all depends on the people, if people absolutely no longer went on forums, major bands and solo artists would not bother adding one to their official sites. I go to official Depeche Mode site and that forum is as popular as ever, I can go there and connect with more DM fans then on facebook to be honest.

I get on facebook mostly to discuss music or find fans, but I get better luck with finding them on the forums.

Mine has been around for a while now, but it was just my idea to have three sub forums each devoted to one of the three bands, PSB< Erasure & DM.

[territorygal]

There's another factor: control. One of the things that absolutely shirks me about FakeBook is not having nearly as much control (as an admin) over what happens on the page. For example, if a conversation goes totally off the rails, you have little choice except to delete it entirely. You can't close the thread or edit individual posts. You can't move or categorise certain conversations. So, that may be another reason why organisations in particular (bands, etc) might want to maintain an official forum outside FB.

[Pet Shop Girl]

There's another factor: control. One of the things that absolutely shirks me about FakeBook is not having nearly as much control (as an admin) over what happens on the page. For example, if a conversation goes totally off the rails, you have little choice except to delete it entirely. You can't close the thread or edit individual posts. You can't move or categorise certain conversations. So, that may be another reason why organisations in particular (bands, etc) might want to maintain an official forum outside FB.

That is true, I just had a perfect example of a conversation that went off the rails on FB today just like you said and I had to delete it. You should be able to edit, there are some cases when you can edit a post that you make. I prefer a forum format, that is why i keep mine open. I just think I need to change it up a bit.