Another SEO rant

[kat]

My hosting's free, thanks to my scrummy hostess.

[coolfx35]

Well, yes. But I think we're going to see a trend back towards forums, and I'm not just saying that.

We've seen the privacy scandals of last summer and it's caused people to go away and think about things. You can be so much more anonymous on a forum than you can on Facebook.

Not only that, but a forum can tailor to the needs of a community than Facebook can, because you can add features and facilities that that community needs, rather than relying on what Facebook gives you.

No doubt you made some good points.  All of them are pros on Forum, but there are cons as well.

1) No need registration, email verification, etc.
2) you can actually see who comments, not just anonymous, which can be positive for some folks.
3) Everything is in one place, you don't need to find a forum for the specific group.

I don't see the trends you are referring to, trend back towards forums.  I see less new forums get started because it's getting impossible to get noticed and get found by google search.

I don't know the SMF script download stats, but i am sure it's in a down trend.

However, I will add, facebook groups won't replace forums 100%, but it surely taking large chunks of it.

[Arantor]

1) There are ways around that, too. And it's possible to have FB/forum bridges for such.

2) That assumes, somewhat naively if I may say, that people use their real names on Facebook. Half my friends list doesn't.

3) True, but on the other hand, FB groups are only really particularly useful for short discussions with a few people at a time, especially of a transient nature.

I'm not looking at SMF's download stats; they've been in decline for some time for unrelated reasons. Fortunately I have other places to go to get such information. And if you'll note, I wasn't saying 'there is a trend towards forums'. It was 'I think we're GOING TO SEE a trend' based on what information I have.

And yes, it's taking large chunks out of it, but mostly the damage has been to very generalised forums or those sufficiently small in niche that a dedicated site is largely unwarranted.

One thing I will note, though, is the whole aspect of people that once upon a time would create a forum to have a soapbox to preach from, now would create a blog for the same instead. Don't forget, forums are far older than Facebook (like decades older)

[Kindred]

as with everything there are cycles. I ran forums on a BBS back in the dial-up days. Now my forums Are run on SMF. however one or two of them also post directly to Facebook when a new post is made. this has encouraged people who find us on Facebook to come to the forums for more detailed discussions