How do we compete with Facebook Groups?

I wouldn't say those that hate or dislike facebook that uses forums. I do not dislike Facebook and yet I'm not an active Facebook person. More of an Instagram and Twitter person.
 
You need to not honestly think on how to compete with them because they are closed environments. Of course a group will have more members, because it’s tied to Facebook usage.

Try to make it worth the time to create an account for your community, and provide useful information for whatever niche you are in, for people to come.

Likewise you can always replicate the features Facebook has (status, walls, comments/sharing, etc.) and see if that same-ness attracts people.
 
I wouldn't say those that hate or dislike facebook that uses forums. I do not dislike Facebook and yet I'm not an active Facebook person. More of an Instagram and Twitter person.
I am too, I’m both social media and forums!

You need to not honestly think on how to compete with them because they are closed environments. Of course a group will have more members, because it’s tied to Facebook usage.

Try to make it worth the time to create an account for your community, and provide useful information for whatever niche you are in, for people to come.

Likewise you can always replicate the features Facebook has (status, walls, comments/sharing, etc.) and see if that same-ness attracts people.
I always see them as two different things, Facebook stock has crashed so it shows how easily a site could end and their groups go with it.

With forums we own the data, Groups only have more members because it’s tied to a popular app you are correct about that.. with forums they have to signup to a new site.
 
I am too, I’m both social media and forums!


I always see them as two different things, Facebook stock has crashed so it shows how easily a site could end and their groups go with it.

With forums we own the data, Groups only have more members because it’s tied to a popular app you are correct about that.. with forums they have to signup to a new site.
Correct - the use case is really just trying to get them to sign up or make it as drop dead easy to sign up as possible (ex; allow them to sign up using one click OAUTH methods like Facebook, Google, Twitter even, and others). You can even try to add in other mobile apps to the mix (ex; Tapatalk) to allow for that transition easier
 
Correct - the use case is really just trying to get them to sign up or make it as drop dead easy to sign up as possible (ex; allow them to sign up using one click OAUTH methods like Facebook, Google, Twitter even, and others). You can even try to add in other mobile apps to the mix (ex; Tapatalk) to allow for that transition easier
I definitely wouldn’t say forums are dead, You can do things to your forum like customisation that you can’t do on a Facebook or discord yet.

OAUTH has helped my site quite a bit, I need to activate it back on my site.
 
Honestly its more of a generation gap than anything else,us old timers didnt have social media so we spent a lot of time on forums,so thats what we prefer,but newer generation grew up with social media so its a lot easier because pretty much all their friends are there. Its also WAY easier to start a facebook group than to start a forum,They have a bigger audience to work with right off the bat. There are some pretty big forums out there still but they have been around for years and usually very niche ones.

So instead of trying to compete with facebook use it as a marketing tool rather than a competitor 🙂
 
Honestly its more of a generation gap than anything else,us old timers didnt have social media so we spent a lot of time on forums,so thats what we prefer,but newer generation grew up with social media so its a lot easier because pretty much all their friends are there. Its also WAY easier to start a facebook group than to start a forum,They have a bigger audience to work with right off the bat. There are some pretty big forums out there still but they have been around for years and usually very niche ones.

So instead of trying to compete with facebook use it as a marketing tool rather than a competitor 🙂
Gen Z+
I’m 26 and a Millennial so I like both!
 
If there is info not on social media, then they have to go to your forum. It's as simple as that. Anyway, you can also bribe people to come to a forum. Money always talks, lol.
 
If there is info not on social media, then they have to go to your forum. It's as simple as that. Anyway, you can also bribe people to come to a forum. Money always talks, lol.
I always say forums don’t get used for instant messaging style things anymore but they are still amazing information platforms and still very active! So agree 🙂
 
I hate Facebook and the speech control they exercise. The FB AI is so bad that it bans a lot of wrong posts. Mark Z. says that 10% of its judgments are wrong but my guess is that it is much worse. Even if your FB group is not about conspiracies I have seen people get banned for nothing.

I feel much safer on classic forums like these where FB can't ban us.

Furthermore, I think it is 1000 times easier to find good info in a classic forum as FB posts 'disappear' and get lost when new posts arrive. Searching in FB groups is not really working.
 
Because people are inherently lazy.

People default to Facebook which is super easy to access and has everything on there from neighbourhood groups to local marketplace listings and also videos to watch content creators. It's all under one roof.

Forums on the other hand are individual websites for a specific topic. You simply can't compete with Facebook (or other social media) because quite frankly, forums are old tech that just isn't accessible like it once was.
I said people are lazy these days then to check out quality content 3 Gen Z's blocked me i guess the truth hurts..
 
Forum thread hopping is only as good as your memory. Do you want to post something you have watched? BAM, right in the thread. Whereas posting on Social Media it's anything you can think of as fast as you can type and scroll through whatever you are into without searching. Facebook you tend to have family, friends, and a bunch of people you don't know but Facebook is like a bachelor that invites you into someone else. It sucks. If I wanted to date, back in the day it was Facebook, now I have no idea. Oh yeah, those paid apps that really don't justify the quality. Forums I like for being an unknown variable until you read all the user posts and conversations over time. It shows you actually want to get to know people rather than just shut them out of your mind.

I know new posts are an easy thing to skim through to be relevant but do you think people focus on that or wish they could find a thread with what they want. What if the thread is too old? What if it doesn't exist? What if they are going to post the exact same thing as the next guy maybe half a year apart? I've seen that a lot. It all comes down to it being on the internet and wanting to get attention. You rarely get interaction with someone on a forum if no one has ever heard of it before. Then do you feel like your time has been wasted? Yeah, there's some logic to being on FB over a forum but generally, you are rarely both unless you have some spare time into it.
 
Quite an interesting question for discussion, well the strategy deviced by the Facebook community was to make it an open platform with lots of fun and entertaining and also enlightening contents, giving an avenue where people can post about their personal day experience and also share pictures and videos. If the forums can inculcate this Into their system by making it possible for individuals to post pictures and videos, and also get an avenue where members can private chat other members so as to improve communications and exchange of information, it would certainly go a long way to grab the attention of people and make them more interested in forums.
 
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