Are forums as a social medium dying in general?

[mayortiffany]

I disagree. I have a Tumblr, and it's fine for sharing pictured of cats, fall leaves, knitting projects, and AC patterns (a few of the topics I personally follow), but the posts I most prefer are the text-heavy ones.

Writing something in a few characters, as on Twitter, does limit the ability to share thoughts and ideas. But a forum is meant for that - writing coherent sentences/paragraphs that allow people to engage in discussion, either by agreeing and adding to the list, or disagreeing and giving examples why.

If the trend is leaning toward a more visual and "sound bite" tendency, the fault isn't in forums, but in the way many view social exchanges as "get the newest, flashiest, and move on". I'm guilty of that, myself, but I think it might be all the more reason why we need a format that focuses on "use your words" rather than "snap a picture". Both have their place.

I have a Tumblr as well, but I'm more so active in fandom circles. A lot of fan art - drawings, photo manipulations, photography, videos, remixes - is shared through Tumblr. I find that these fanworks are often presented by themselves, in that the focus is on the piece of art being shared rather than on the ideas and thoughts that are expressed through writing (like say, through a caption). I don't think that that's necessarily a symptom of a lack of attention nowadays, but more so about the different ways that people use social media and share knowledge amongst each other (eg. through an infographic). I personally don't have a preference for text-based/visual posts, I'm fine with a combination of both.

I think it goes to show how diversely people can use social media! Like you said, there is a place for both mediums that focus on written communication and places that focus on imagery.

Your thoughts on Twitter also got me thinking about the purpose of discussion on social media, and of formality. At least within a lot of fandom spaces, the benefit of Twitter is that it doesn't have to be a place where people have serious, long discussions. It can be a silly place where people talk about their reactions to a music video or share pictures of a band member or whatever. At least for me, I feel like forums sometimes demand a bit more formality and thoughtfulness than other platforms might, and sometimes, I just don't want to express myself that way, you know? Sometimes, I want to express myself in a silly way and talk about like, Harry Styles' hair or something, and I think a forum just doesn't lend itself well to the same kind of, potentially all over the place, discourse.

 

[Antonio]

Social Media is broader compared to messaging boards that have a certain themes so obviously they would be bigger and more active. Since Social Media handles a wide range of topic, it's easier for people to use those platforms to talk about their interests compared to other sites that have a certain limit to what you can talk about. Mixed in a lack of post-quality rules (no minimum limitations, I mean) with easy accessibility and you got yourself a better option.

 

[Mezzanine]

Deleted .

 

[Hypno KK]

Yes, definitely. I remember when there were forums for basically everything. I really miss that, it's way less obnoxious than most social media discussions where it's people showing off.

 

[DinosaurDumpster]

Sadly it is dying slowly, but I voted no, because there are still forums that are still active. This one is an example.

It's probably because I don't really like social media all too much. I like the "dinosaur days" better. ((mainly because today's internet is so toxic and... yeah))

 

[Trundle]

Forums are definitely dying but some communities demand forums. A lot of communities can easily use Facebook Groups for all the conversation they need, but Facebook is limited in what it can do. Just as one example, TBT has a currency system, collectibles, and signatures.
Social media is engineered to be as addictive as possible while forums don't really have that. I think forums are a special haven from big tech companies that social media can't fill for a lot of people.

 

[DarkDesertFox]

Wow this thread is old... but still very relevant. I would say so. I've found it more convenient to just go on Reddit and browse communities by topic. Though there are downsides to that because you don't really get to know anyone and there are a lot of hivemind opinions that form. I started browsing TBT more again because I was tired of the same trending posts on the Animal Crossing Reddit. They also didn't really allow for any discussion of the game. Though forums definitely feel more formal and "uptight" in my opinion. I am definitely more serious with how I write on here than how I normally am if you talked to me on a messenger platform like Discord. Maybe that's part of it as well. People love to post memes and forums aren't the best place for that in general.

 

[Kuroh]

I prefer forums like this because it's more chill and has a smaller community!

Meanwhile, social media has become 99% political and it just isn't enjoyable anymore They should have a tagging system for those sort of things because not everyone is constantly in the mindset to want to read heated arguments every 2 seconds.

 

[Xara]

unfortunately, yes. with the rising of social media platforms such as instagram or twitter, not many people feel the need to use forums, anymore, which is sad.

this is the only forum that i’ve ever used for a long duration of time and i love it here - being surrounded by people who have the same mutual love for a franchise is great and i’ve made so many friends and memories on here. like others have said, too; it’s definitely way less toxic here than it is on social media.

instagram is the only social media that i use a lot of and it can uh,, get a little questionable on there aha. browsing through my explore page is always a bit jarring as even on the most simplest of posts, there’s a 95% (?) chance that a fight has broken out in the comments. with forums and social media, it has granted us anonymity but the difference is, people on social media use it to undeservingly be asses to others and it just,, sucks to see.

so while social media can be interesting and i still love scrolling through instagram, i definitely prefer forums as it feels more like a tight-knit community which is great and also,, people are generally nicer on here aha

 

[SummerHime]

This is why I love this place so much. It's like a blast from the past, a breath of fresh air, a reminder of all the time I spent on different forums in my teenage years. If I look at this forum, it's like everything is still the same as it was, with people willing to share their thoughts and ideas through posting.

But everywhere else, forums are a dying breed. You just don't see many places like The Bell Tree anymore, which is a shame. For those who prefer this medium, it's like the world has turned into a desert, and this place is an oasis. But for those who haven't grown up with forums, or don't care about them, I guess it's just change, which is neither good nor bad.

Still, I'm happy we still have tight-knit communities to express ourselves.