Winter/Summer

[Yoda]

Do you find that over Summer your forum becomes quieter with the nicer weather outdoors? E.g people are outside away from computers and so don't visit as often? Also do you find that in the winter months your forum is usually more active/busy as people are not out as often?

 

[Geoffrey]

I find that summer is usually busier, given that many forum users are students and are out of school then. Weather doesn't tend to have much of an effect on forums I've had int he past or any that I've been a part of.

Winter is usually about average, like fall and spring, except for the time around Christmas and New Year's - same reason as above, holidays = time off from school (and work usually) so people have more time. Plus people are getting new computers, new games, new things in general to talk about.

I can see some forums picking up more in the fall if they're entertainment based with new tv seasons starting for various shows. Again, new things to talk about so new forums will pop up and people will start visiting existing forums more as well (in theory).

 

[pandaa]

I really don't notice too much of a difference, really. Sometimes you'll notice more activity in the middle of the day because people are at home instead of at work/school, but that's about it in my experience.

 

[Yoda]

I've never personally noticed it on my forums but it was just a thought I had, I usually have more time over summer and less in winter when I can be out and about!

 

[Tucker933]

January to August are our best months. The Fall and Winter holidays are brutal.

 

[Yoda]

Why do you think you see such a steep drop off in activity on your forum Tucker?

 

[Cierra]

I found that a couple winter months (December/January/February) my forums activity decreased. A lot of members had college exams, winter break, etc. This is our first year so we'll see activity is during the summer.

 

[Tucker933]

Why do you think you see such a steep drop off in activity on your forum Tucker?

Well, as I said, it's the holidays. People tend to be a lot busier.

Activity shoots up right after New Years, and tends to be its strongest from January to May. It's exactly the same every year for us.

 

[Mikaya]

in the summer holidays the community tends to be busier as most members are students in school. I imagine they still would go out and enjoy the weather from time to time. 😛

as for the winter, activity is average I guess. 2 weeks isn't really a long time either.

 

[Ash]

I always found that Summer was a period where your forum grew in activity a bit due to the holidays especially for schools etc.

 

[MasterA]

I find the summer is the peak months of the year. This is probably because it is the holidays and people have more time to spend on forums.

 

[MrDawn]

I find Summer has the most activity and Winter is where activity is at an all time low.

 

[Tucker933]

It must be the demographic, because my forum's activity is the polar opposite of just about everyone in here.

 

[Allenafaith]

I think in the winter it's less active because like Cierra said people are busy with exams etc. when summer comes and people are out of school, the activity picks up a little bit.

 

[Cosmic]

For FP, and a lot of the forums which are frequented by the same groups of people, I think the activity revolves largely around the school year. When people are swamped by exams, everyone slows down a bit, and when people start off their summer breaks, things slowly begin to ramp up.

 

[cwvps]

There's no big difference, really. It all depends on your target group of people and demographic. And keep in mind that people are browsing the internet nowadays even if they are on the beach.