Forces of Steel
Resident
What do you think of the saying?
Here's why I agree:
Forums are social platforms, long since the days of the bulletin board. In fact, if you think about it, other than meeting in person or phoning each other, what other ways were possible in the pre-Internet age for human interaction? We used to write letters and other instances that carried some sort of message to the reader. We had actual bulletin boards set on walls for anyone to pin whatever it was that they needed to say. Had a brand or service to sell? You pinned them on bulletin boards, and people noticed them. If they were interested, they'd have gotten whatever contact information that was provided, and then tried to get in touch with you over the phone, through the mail, or even in person.
Now, with the social aspect explained, the next best thing about forums is the fact that you have content. As a matter of fact, it isn't just you and your small group of friends who are the ones contributing. Total strangers who may come across your forums will be enticed to join, and upon enjoying the atmosphere, they, too, will add to the conversation. Forum content tends to be a lot more diverse and less biased, unlike blogs or regular Web sites. You, the visitor, are able to weigh the ups and downs to every subject, and based on the information provided, come up with your own conclusions.
I know that forums aren't literally all that you'd ever need to get the ball rolling, given that some things tend to be more effective using another medium. For the most part, however, forums have you pretty much covered. If you want to give your members the ability to publish their own blogs, there are a multitude of ways of combining the best of both worlds. If you want to implement a product review feature, you can sort through all the plugins and/or tutorials for your forum software that make that happen. If you want to include pages for your media downloads and online radio, then even those are possible.
Seriously, if only people could realize how robust forums tend to be. You can conveniently browse forums and look up old threads, customize the look and feel of things, and so on. You can't do much of whatever I already jotted down with social media. You just can't. It will never happen. Forums are here to stay, no matter if it's hundreds or tens actively visiting on a daily basis.
Here's why I agree:
Forums are social platforms, long since the days of the bulletin board. In fact, if you think about it, other than meeting in person or phoning each other, what other ways were possible in the pre-Internet age for human interaction? We used to write letters and other instances that carried some sort of message to the reader. We had actual bulletin boards set on walls for anyone to pin whatever it was that they needed to say. Had a brand or service to sell? You pinned them on bulletin boards, and people noticed them. If they were interested, they'd have gotten whatever contact information that was provided, and then tried to get in touch with you over the phone, through the mail, or even in person.
Now, with the social aspect explained, the next best thing about forums is the fact that you have content. As a matter of fact, it isn't just you and your small group of friends who are the ones contributing. Total strangers who may come across your forums will be enticed to join, and upon enjoying the atmosphere, they, too, will add to the conversation. Forum content tends to be a lot more diverse and less biased, unlike blogs or regular Web sites. You, the visitor, are able to weigh the ups and downs to every subject, and based on the information provided, come up with your own conclusions.
I know that forums aren't literally all that you'd ever need to get the ball rolling, given that some things tend to be more effective using another medium. For the most part, however, forums have you pretty much covered. If you want to give your members the ability to publish their own blogs, there are a multitude of ways of combining the best of both worlds. If you want to implement a product review feature, you can sort through all the plugins and/or tutorials for your forum software that make that happen. If you want to include pages for your media downloads and online radio, then even those are possible.
Seriously, if only people could realize how robust forums tend to be. You can conveniently browse forums and look up old threads, customize the look and feel of things, and so on. You can't do much of whatever I already jotted down with social media. You just can't. It will never happen. Forums are here to stay, no matter if it's hundreds or tens actively visiting on a daily basis.
