The rise of social networking, the fall of internet forums

[Ichneumon]

I think I've stumbled upon a trend, something I find very disturbing. It seems that in the past few months, maybe even in the past few years, people are moving away from the traditional bulletin board discussion forums, like this one, in favor of social networking services such as Facebook and others. I was quite active on many different internet forums of companies, such as WotC, or national and international "political" groups focussing on certain social issues, I won't name them here because of forum rules, but most have in the past few months closed down their forums and instead made Twitter, Facebook and Myspace accounts. (I mention WotC as they shifted to different software with a direction more towards social networking, although they still have a forum and it still works fine, the interface is less then optimal.)

Personally, I think this is very bad. Web forums were focussed on discussions and made it easy to talk about a variety of subjects, people could make topics and everybody could just join in and add to the discussion. Long debates lasting pages and pages were not uncommon. This is not the case with social networking sites, which are much more focused on individuals. Real discussions and topic-creation like on forums isn't possible and to me it seems we're heading in a wrong direction, that is, a direction in which we no longer wish to discus or debate with one another, actually listen to what other people are saying, but only care about showing and shouting our own ideas and opinions, throwing our thoughts into the world. It looks a bit like blogging, everybody has a blog, writing blogs is very popular, but almost no-one is actually reading all those blogs.

Am I looking to much into this? What's your opinion?

Also, I mean not to offend users of social networking sites or those that enjoy using them. I have a facebook account too. In my view there is a space for both, my fear though is in the fact that one seems to be replacing the other.

[The Dark Fiddler]

(Sorry if this isn't the in-depth answer you're looking for; I just got up and I lost an hour of sleep because we had to set our clocks forward).

I haven't seen the trend you're mentioning personally. Although social networking sites are obviously growing, I don't think forums as a whole are dropping; in fact, I think they're growing too. Sure, individual forums might close down and open Twitter accounts or something (actually, I've never heard of this. I've heard of opening a Twitter or something in addition, but I digress) but forums as a whole are only growing, just as the internet as a whole is. I think these here forums are a good example; we're certainly getting more and more popular as time goes on, despite social networking.

[Thufir]

I'm afraid that being rather tired, I found your post a bit tl:dr. But in response to the general idea, I don't think so. At least I personally check facebook fairly briefly. It's here that I spend most of my internet time.

[Yora]

I don't think people who stop using forums and istead use social networking services are a real loss for forum communities.
If you're really interested in a topic, I don't think social networks could be any real substitution. Maybe for the off-topic section many forums have, but I rarely used those anyway.

[Hazyshade]

From a company/organisation point of view: Between them, facebook and Twitter do everything important that web forums do, and do it in a way that reaches X,000% more people. It just makes good business sense.


Real discussions and topic-creation like on forums isn't possible

Disagree. I have seen many an epic debate on a facebook group.

It doesn't have the bells and whistles that a forum has - you couldn't transplant an entrenched community like GitP to facebook because the functionality wouldn't support the ways we do things. On the other hand, for sub-critical mass communities that can go a while without anyone having anything much to say, facebook can allow that community to remain active (through status updates and "message all") whereas a forum would just get abandoned. Nothing looks less professional than a forum whose last post was on July 18th, 2008. (Well, that's not strictly true.)

Hosting a web forum can rightly or wrongly be seen as an endorsement of anything posted on it which can lead to problems. I'm thinking of a national organisation of which I'm a member, who managed to negotiate an excellent deal with a sponsor, only for certain posters on that organisation's message board to lay into the sponsor for not moving quickly enough. The sponsor became aware of said comments, and the message board was quickly spun off from the main website and disowned (I along with most posters accepted the need for this move). Free and open discussion = problem.

From an individual point of view: it's practically a cliche that facebook is shrivelling our brains and making us incapable of organising our thoughts into proper sentences. I don't get it. facebook is a medium that allows people's interactions to more closely mirror the real world - non-linear, various stimuli competing for attention, a select group of people given more importance than the hoi polloi, and for the most part, short easily processed content. (Without at least a degree of short easily processed content, we would all go mad.) facebook is an effect not a cause.

There will always be internet forums, and people to post on them. Social networking has only replaced forums to the extent of weeding out the existing inefficiency and boredom. If there are people who were previously big fans of forums who have now "converted" to social networking, good luck to them. Not everyone feels at home with a bunch of strangers who talk in essays. But I think it more likely depends on which specific sites capture their imagination at the time.

[skywalker]

From a company/organisation point of view: Between them, facebook and Twitter do everything important that web forums do, and do it in a way that reaches X,000% more people. It just makes good business sense.

Yes.


Disagree. I have seen many an epic debate on a facebook group.

Yes.


It doesn't have the bells and whistles that a forum has - you couldn't transplant an entrenched community like GitP to facebook because the functionality wouldn't support the ways we do things. On the other hand, for sub-critical mass communities that can go a while without anyone having anything much to say, facebook can allow that community to remain active (through status updates and "message all") whereas a forum would just get abandoned. Nothing looks less professional than a forum whose last post was on July 18th, 2008. (Well, that's not strictly true.)

Totally agree here.

I personally am involved in a lot of "SRS debates" on facebook, and I find the medium less than optimal as compared to a forum. I preferred when facebook was facebook, myspace was myspace, and forums were forums. I don't really need them all mixed together, but I think what OP is saying has some merit too.

[Trog]

It's just the new thing is all. The rise in popularity means many people have begun to focus on something new but, for the most part, this doesn't mean forums are going completely away. Some might, but that's up to the people who host them. They both have their good and bad points, really.

[Moff Chumley]

The awkward part is when I go onto Facebook after arguing on other forums. Apparently not everyone wants there status turned into a flamewar... :smallsigh::smallwink:

[ForzaFiori]

I think that they're both growing. Like the others said, several of the smaller forums are dying, and some places have both forums and networks, but on the whole, they both grow. And some sites contain both (last I checked, myspace had "forums" in the form of their groups, which let you post a variety of topics, with pages of responses).

[Graymayre]

It's just a matter of evolution to me. If traditional forums are not seeing enough use then they will dissapear. Social networking is a highly successful form of human communication in so much that it is incredibly widespread.

But eventually another in the social evolutionary tract will take its place, and there will be more people like us arguing about how everything is going down hill.

[Drakevarg]

Hrm. I don't use social networking at all, myself. The closest thing I've got is AIM, which I use to talk to maybe half a dozen people. Forums are where my heart is, personally, particularly since I can just leave for half a day and the discussion won't skid to a halt. In an instant messanging type ordeal (which, from what I've gathered from cursory glances at my brother's screen while he's on Facebook, it seems to consist mostly of a MySpace-ish vanity page + several simultanious IM convos.), someone just getting up and leaving the room in the middle of a conversation is rather awkward.

Then again, the vast majority of my forum experience (six out of my maybe-seven years on forums in general) has taken the form of honor system PBPs. It's kinda hard to write an epic narrative over an IM, so there's that.

[Sneak]

Er, not really.

Social networking is, at least for me, (mostly) for people that I actually know in real life, and it's more of a communication tool than anything else.

Forums, on the other hand, are pretty much the opposite. They're discussion based and not communication based, and I use them to get away from my "real" life and the people I'm Facebook friends with.

Unlike going to forums, don't get a Facebook if you don't have any friends on it. You don't meet people on Facebook.

Also, social networking sites and online forums tend to attract different crowds. Facebook is pretty ubiquitous, so yes, plenty of forumites also have Facebooks. But forums attract a certain type of persona (and this is especially true of niche boards like GitP), and many of those people are (obviously) more likely to visit forums than social networking sites.

[Jokasti]

{
if (person == realLifeFriend)
{
methodOfCommunication=Facebook;
}
if (person != realLifeFriend)
{
methodOfCommunication=Forum;
}
System.out.println(methodOfCommunication)
}

[Hazyshade]

Unlike going to forums, don't get a Facebook if you don't have any friends on it. You don't meet people on Facebook.

I met someone very special on facebook. We had a few mutual friends already, but had never encountered each other in real life: the ice-breaker came when one of said mutual friends posted a song lyric as his status, and this young lady and I found ourselves taking it in turns to quote the next line. I took a chance and messaged her - I suspect that the sequence of events that followed was partly because we were both sufficiently entertained by the randomness of meeting someone on facebook, that we wanted to see how far it could go :smallsmile:

[RabbitHoleLost]

I met someone very special on facebook. We had a few mutual friends already, but had never encountered each other in real life: the ice-breaker came when one of said mutual friends posted a song lyric as his status, and this young lady and I found ourselves taking it in turns to quote the next line. I took a chance and messaged her - I suspect that the sequence of events that followed was partly because we were both sufficiently entertained by the randomness of meeting someone on facebook, that we wanted to see how far it could go :smallsmile:

But you met her through people you both know
If you don't know anyone on facebook, though, its unlikely you'll meet anyone through it.

[Hazyshade]

But you met her through people you both know

I'd say it still counts as meeting: isn't that how most people meet in the real world too?

[MethosH]

Orkut is some sort of social network with forums that they call "communities".

But social networks will never replace forums... First... Social Networks have their own sets of rules. Some people just can't stand it and are likely to make their own forums... Second... Some projects are too big to rely on a third party social system, like many games, so they have their own forums... and so on and so on...

The two may sound similar but they are actually pretty different.

[skywalker]

The awkward part is when I go onto Facebook after arguing on other forums. Apparently not everyone wants there status turned into a flamewar... :smallsigh::smallwink:

Funnily enough, the people I tend to argue with on facebook are far less civil than on these forums. So much so that I am frequently put off merely by their style.

[Klose_the_Sith]

Meh.

I go on facebook repeatedly and several times a day. I'm involved with a couple groups and have massive debates.

But the GitP forums are my Achilles heel.

If I get onto these web-wam discussions then I'm drowned for 30-45 minutes minimum, just on the interactions and discussions people who are complete strangers have had on topics I'm completely not interested in.

Facebook, on the other hand, only seems to have conversations about how fully sick some party was, or some relationship scandal. These can be fun discussions if you have personal investment in the topic, but as it's real life type conversations, you so rarely do.

So in conclusion, meh.

[Thufir]

I'd say it still counts as meeting: isn't that how most people meet in the real world too?

But not on forums. I knew no-one on these forums when I joined.
On the other hand, another way you can meet friends is through shared interests, which is kind of applicable to forums.


Funnily enough, the people I tend to argue with on facebook are far less civil than on these forums. So much so that I am frequently put off merely by their style.

Well, they don't have rules against flaming, etc.
Actually, that's an amusing/embarassing thing which has been known to happen to me: I'm on facebook, see some comment and I'm like "Wait, isn't that a bit too political/religious OH WAIT THIS ISN'T GITP GAH." I've got the rules seriously ingrained at this point.
Though it probably doesn't help that my typical internet activity when bored is to go back and forth between GitP and facebook. To the point where I sometimes get confused and enter the URL of the one I'm already on, then wonder why nothing's happened.

[Zeb The Troll]

But not on forums. I knew no-one on these forums when I joined.

On the other hand, another way you can meet friends is through shared interests, which is kind of applicable to forums.When I created my account here, I knew exactly 0 playgrounders. In my time here, however, I've met and made quite a few friends. I've gotten married to a playgrounder and I'm to be the best man in the wedding of two others. Some of them have moved on, sadly, and some I don't have as much contact with as I used to and would like to, but I've had the same happen with offline friends at least as much, if not moreso.

To the OP, no, I don't feel like social networking is replacing forums. Social networking is geared towards staying in touch and idle conversation, while forums are geared towards dialog and idea sharing. Not to say that each can't do the other, but this is their respective strengths.

[Ichneumon]

I'm glad to see the phenomenon seems to be local and not a real trend.

[Klose_the_Sith]

I'm glad to see the phenomenon seems to be local and not a real trend.

Your trend was probably exaggerated by the WOTC boards falling apart around Gleemax. Which is a shame, cause early Gleemax was also the highlight of those forums :smallbiggrin:

[viewcaster]

When I created my account here, I knew exactly 0 playgrounders. In my time here, however, I've met and made quite a few friends. I've gotten married to a playgrounder and I'm to be the best man in the wedding of two others. Some of them have moved on, sadly, and some I don't have as much contact with as I used to and would like to, but I've had the same happen with offline friends at least as much, if not moreso.

To the OP, no, I don't feel like social networking is replacing forums. Social networking is geared towards staying in touch and idle conversation, while forums are geared towards dialog and idea sharing. Not to say that each can't do the other, but this is their respective strengths.

Definitely two completely different animals, that is, social networks and forums. My time on FB is very brief, usually just logging on to see what my kids are posting. I can spend hours browsing forums and actually for me, are a micro look at how the web itself works. I often get on a forum looking for a answer and end up browsing subjects have nothing to do with my original intent. Social networks are just completely different, at least for me.

[Rowsen]

Definitely two completely different animals, that is, social networks and forums.
Great, now I have to do a David Attenborough style documentary on them.

[Skeppio]

Great, now I have to do a David Attenborough style documentary on them.

And here we have a wild Giant in it's natural habitat, the Playground.


Or something.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

To me, not having met any playgrounders in real life, I feel that I do have this seperation between Internet friends and 'normal' friends. I don't have anyone from the Internet's on facebook, and pretty much rely on forums to talk to them.

A lot of the forums I go to are the forums run by game developers, which have a higher risk of moving to facebook and such. Whether this is a good thing or not can be debated: either way, I can name one fringe-ish developer that I would follow any way they went, just because every single person on their team is active on their forums, and not only do they actively take the collective advice of the forums in mind when creating their games, they have on multiple occasions published fan-made standalone expansions for older games, and, in one case, are actually publishing a fan-made game based on one of their newest games. Also, they're just likeable people.


Ok, that went a bit off-topic, so I'll bring it back by saying that, with the quite notable exception of GitP, which I love in this form too much to harbour major change, I'm mostly impartial to any shift, though I do prefer forums for this type of discussion: social media seem much more personal: much more 'chatty' than this discussion on a topic.

[valadil]

I see three reasons for this.

1) Social networking advertises better. If all your friends sign up for FaceSpace, or whatever the next new social network to come out is, you'll hear about it. You may even feel like you're missing out. I hate Facebook with a passion, but use it because I'd miss out on too many parties and events without it. I know quite a few people who use it for all their internet communication.

2) Technologically, forums are of an older generation. This forum looks just like the ones I was using before Y2K. Anyone making new software is going to be aiming for something new rather than replicating a tried and true design. Social network sites are new. So are social news sites (and they come close to being forums.)

3) There aren't any less people on forums. But a lower percentage of internet users are on forums. This gives you the perception that fewer people use them. The internet of 5-10 years ago had fewer people. Those people were more likely to be nerds and enthusiasts. Just using a forum required some amount of elite nerdism. Now that the internet is more accessible, more people use it. But it gains people who are content with email and Facebook. They don't bother looking for additional discussion.

[averagejoe]

The Mod They Call Me: Please do not preform thread necromancy.