Home Forums Blog Talk Forums are the New Blogs?

1 reply, 7 voices Last updated by Carol 9 years, 2 months ago
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    • #39949

      Aimee
      Participant
      @aimeebeltran

      My frustration with Facebook has hit an all time high. I rarely see posts from friends, family, and the pages I really like. Instead, my newsfeed is cluttered with stupid memes, political bashing, and pics/statuses that my friends have liked. I’ve always checked FB every morning to see what’s going on around the world, in my city, and with my loved ones. It’s just not what it is used to be personally and especially for business! I’m not even going there with page engagement!!! Grrrr!

      I was doing some research about it because I can’t NOT use FB, right?! I stumbled across this article that said, “Forums are the New Blogs.” I thought that was really interesting because just a few years back a lot of people moved away from private forums on their blog b/c it could all be managed in FB Groups but you don’t own the content. Ironically we’re discussing this on a private forum 🙂 To that point, that’s what’s so awesome about this community here is that we can ask questions and have conversations “privately” within a community of liked minded people.

      It seems like while there’s more clutter than ever on social media, it’s also eerily quiet. First it was the death of blog comments, now FB is a dying breed. What’s next? I’ve been feeling that the “norm” of social media and blogging is shifting once again but I can’t quite put my finger on it. 

      My question to you is this: Is social media dying? Are people ready to start having smaller conversations with liked minded people without their mom’s sisters friend of a friend finding it in her newsfeed? How do we as bloggers change with the times and still reach our audience?

    • #39963

      Dawn
      Participant
      @lolatherescuedcat

      I’ve been extremely frustrated with FB for a while now.  I can’t see anything of importance to me in my timeline. My page also hardly gets any traffic anymore because FB changes it’s settings and protocols.  I have over 6300 followers on FB, and a post may only reach 100 people.  

    • #39962

      Jen | DOGthusiast&FoundPixel.com
      Participant
      @kidderton

      A couple days ago I installed a browser plugin called “Facebook Purity”… it actually removes the news feed from Facebook. I also uninstalled the app from my phone.  I did this to see what it would feel like, and just use the pages (because I “have to”… kinda), groups and messaging aspects of FB. So far it’s working, and I have a lot of time back from my day to do more important things (work, business). I was inspired to do this from a blog post I read about checking in on people instead of letting FB decide what you read/who you see. It’s just the feed, and the important parts remain.

      I opted for this because I was hovering my finger over the “deactivate” button…

      And I can certainly concur with the feeling about social media. I sat down and actually tried to analyze “what does all this work, all of this time spent, offer me in my life” — tangibly, what does it offer that other avenues cannot. I answer questions, I write content, and it’s all on another platform owned by someone else and does very little to actually grow my business looking at the black and white numbers from 2014. If I spent 30 minutes reading… random stuff… that’s 30 minutes not out walking my dogs. That is the part that’s key to me, and I hope to sort it out soon.

      And I just created a forum to start answering WordPress questions in. I am tired of giving that content away to Facebook in a hidden group, and when I don’t give adequate enough content away or enough free assistance have people complain (no joke). May as well do it on my own domain and have the content (and complaints) there if I’m going to do it at all.

      And yes, I know it might not go anywhere, but it’s not like the Facebook content I spent all those hours on went anywhere, either. So it will be what it will be. 

       

    • #39961

      Jen | DOGthusiast&FoundPixel.com
      Participant
      @kidderton

      And one quick addition – re: forums. I think one of the big differentiators is longevity of content and potential distribution/searchability. Time in that blog comments (sometimes), forum posts (preferably open forums), and the like stick around when social media typically moves on and does not have the time factor. I can still go back and, scarily enough, find cat stories I wrote on usenet in 1999 or find the forum reply where I provided a code snippet in 2006. I’ve found old blog comments I’ve left when doing a google search years later. I can tie it to my name with a footer or link or profile whatnot. Things “disappear” on social media (and sure they can on forums, but at least there’s usually a straight forward way to group & retrieve your content thanks to internet archiving). Not sure if that makes sense, and I know there are counter arguments and edge cases here.

       

    • #39960

      Geoffrey
      Participant
      @aimablecats

      About a year ago, when Facebook announced they were going to start shutting down pet profiles (that were profiles instead of pages), a bunch of us joined ShowMe Cats (nothing at all to do with Missouri except a handful of members), a social media page for cats.  Since they overestimated their returns and spent way too much on development, they soon went under.

      In that spirit, I decided to see what I could do as an alternative using open source software (specifically, Drupal).  I have around 50 members at the Aimable Cats website, and over 1100 followers (+35 in the French-language version) on Facebook.  You can post like a blog (which appears on the front page) or like a forum (which only appears there if promoted).

      Except for a few pictures I shared from elsewhere on Facebook, I rarely achieve 50 views on any posts to my fb page.  When I look at my page after logging in, I usually see no posts at all.  I can never tell when a post has a preview that I can customize, a preview I cannot customize, or no preview.  

      Some other fàçéybк pages have reported they can’t see messages people have left, they can’t share pages, can’t like pages, and other similar picky-picky-annoying things. Others complain about the anti-cat or pro-cat-torture pages that are allowed to remain, or the combination of what can stay and what cannot.

      Showmecats had an emoticon for facepoop among their others.  I haven’t gone that far, but I do have one for fàçéybк.  I recently had a Top 10 reasons to join Aimable Cats; Reason number 1 was It’s not Facebook — you can read it at http://aimb.us/top-10/1 

    • #39959

      Clowie
      Participant
      @clowiescorner

      I’m about to leave the safety net of wordpress.com and would be very interested in joining your forum, if I may.

      Jen deHaan | ProPetBlogging.com said:

      A couple days ago I installed a browser plugin called “Facebook Purity”… it actually removes the news feed from Facebook. I also uninstalled the app from my phone.  I did this to see what it would feel like, and just use the pages (because I “have to”… kinda), groups and messaging aspects of FB. So far it’s working, and I have a lot of time back from my day to do more important things (work, business). I was inspired to do this from a blog post I read about checking in on people instead of letting FB decide what you read/who you see. It’s just the feed, and the important parts remain.

      I opted for this because I was hovering my finger over the “deactivate” button…

      And I can certainly concur with the feeling about social media. I sat down and actually tried to analyze “what does all this work, all of this time spent, offer me in my life” — tangibly, what does it offer that other avenues cannot. I answer questions, I write content, and it’s all on another platform owned by someone else and does very little to actually grow my business looking at the black and white numbers from 2014. If I spent 30 minutes reading… random stuff… that’s 30 minutes not out walking my dogs. That is the part that’s key to me, and I hope to sort it out soon.

      And I just created a forum to start answering WordPress questions in. I am tired of giving that content away to Facebook in a hidden group, and when I don’t give adequate enough content away or enough free assistance have people complain (no joke). May as well do it on my own domain and have the content (and complaints) there if I’m going to do it at all.

      And yes, I know it might not go anywhere, but it’s not like the Facebook content I spent all those hours on went anywhere, either. So it will be what it will be. 

       

    • #39958

      Jen | DOGthusiast&FoundPixel.com
      Participant
      @kidderton

      @Clowie Would love to see you there! I built/launched the site in the last week or two, so you’ll notice the forums being a bit of a blank slate but I’m there to help 🙂  

      Clowie said:

      I’m about to leave the safety net of wordpress.com and would be very interested in joining your forum, if I may.

      Jen deHaan | ProPetBlogging.com said:

      A couple days ago I installed a browser plugin called “Facebook Purity”… it actually removes the news feed from Facebook. I also uninstalled the app from my phone.  I did this to see what it would feel like, and just use the pages (because I “have to”… kinda), groups and messaging aspects of FB. So far it’s working, and I have a lot of time back from my day to do more important things (work, business). I was inspired to do this from a blog post I read about checking in on people instead of letting FB decide what you read/who you see. It’s just the feed, and the important parts remain.

      I opted for this because I was hovering my finger over the “deactivate” button…

      And I can certainly concur with the feeling about social media. I sat down and actually tried to analyze “what does all this work, all of this time spent, offer me in my life” — tangibly, what does it offer that other avenues cannot. I answer questions, I write content, and it’s all on another platform owned by someone else and does very little to actually grow my business looking at the black and white numbers from 2014. If I spent 30 minutes reading… random stuff… that’s 30 minutes not out walking my dogs. That is the part that’s key to me, and I hope to sort it out soon.

      And I just created a forum to start answering WordPress questions in. I am tired of giving that content away to Facebook in a hidden group, and when I don’t give adequate enough content away or enough free assistance have people complain (no joke). May as well do it on my own domain and have the content (and complaints) there if I’m going to do it at all.

      And yes, I know it might not go anywhere, but it’s not like the Facebook content I spent all those hours on went anywhere, either. So it will be what it will be. 

       

    • #39957

      Clowie
      Participant
      @clowiescorner

      Thank you. I’ll be joining soon. 

      Jen deHaan | ProPetBlogging.com said:

      @Clowie Would love to see you there! I built/launched the site in the last week or two, so you’ll notice the forums being a bit of a blank slate but I’m there to help 🙂  

      Clowie said:

      I’m about to leave the safety net of wordpress.com and would be very interested in joining your forum, if I may.

      Jen deHaan | ProPetBlogging.com said:

      A couple days ago I installed a browser plugin called “Facebook Purity”… it actually removes the news feed from Facebook. I also uninstalled the app from my phone.  I did this to see what it would feel like, and just use the pages (because I “have to”… kinda), groups and messaging aspects of FB. So far it’s working, and I have a lot of time back from my day to do more important things (work, business). I was inspired to do this from a blog post I read about checking in on people instead of letting FB decide what you read/who you see. It’s just the feed, and the important parts remain.

      I opted for this because I was hovering my finger over the “deactivate” button…

      And I can certainly concur with the feeling about social media. I sat down and actually tried to analyze “what does all this work, all of this time spent, offer me in my life” — tangibly, what does it offer that other avenues cannot. I answer questions, I write content, and it’s all on another platform owned by someone else and does very little to actually grow my business looking at the black and white numbers from 2014. If I spent 30 minutes reading… random stuff… that’s 30 minutes not out walking my dogs. That is the part that’s key to me, and I hope to sort it out soon.

      And I just created a forum to start answering WordPress questions in. I am tired of giving that content away to Facebook in a hidden group, and when I don’t give adequate enough content away or enough free assistance have people complain (no joke). May as well do it on my own domain and have the content (and complaints) there if I’m going to do it at all.

      And yes, I know it might not go anywhere, but it’s not like the Facebook content I spent all those hours on went anywhere, either. So it will be what it will be. 

       

    • #39956

      Aimee
      Participant
      @aimeebeltran

      I’m really interesting to check out that plugin. The one thing for sure in blogging/social media is that nothing stays the same very long!!! 

      Jen deHaan | ProPetBlogging.com said:

      A couple days ago I installed a browser plugin called “Facebook Purity”… it actually removes the news feed from Facebook. I also uninstalled the app from my phone.  I did this to see what it would feel like, and just use the pages (because I “have to”… kinda), groups and messaging aspects of FB. So far it’s working, and I have a lot of time back from my day to do more important things (work, business). I was inspired to do this from a blog post I read about checking in on people instead of letting FB decide what you read/who you see. It’s just the feed, and the important parts remain.

      I opted for this because I was hovering my finger over the “deactivate” button…

      And I can certainly concur with the feeling about social media. I sat down and actually tried to analyze “what does all this work, all of this time spent, offer me in my life” — tangibly, what does it offer that other avenues cannot. I answer questions, I write content, and it’s all on another platform owned by someone else and does very little to actually grow my business looking at the black and white numbers from 2014. If I spent 30 minutes reading… random stuff… that’s 30 minutes not out walking my dogs. That is the part that’s key to me, and I hope to sort it out soon.

      And I just created a forum to start answering WordPress questions in. I am tired of giving that content away to Facebook in a hidden group, and when I don’t give adequate enough content away or enough free assistance have people complain (no joke). May as well do it on my own domain and have the content (and complaints) there if I’m going to do it at all.

      And yes, I know it might not go anywhere, but it’s not like the Facebook content I spent all those hours on went anywhere, either. So it will be what it will be. 

       

    • #39955

      Carol
      Participant
      @fidoseofreality

      I am a facebook lover and a lot of my traffic comes from it. Groups are great but I agree about forums and communities like this being an incredibly valuable resource.

      Blogs have just begin to hit their place in the social media-sphere IMO and based on all I am reading. Though the comments might not be there or from folks who already know you, people are reading. They dont always take the time to comment, but they do read and brands want that sort of engagement and traffic.

      And no, social media is not dying. Think about this: There was NO social media years ago and now here it is. Like anything new, and especially something so world-changing and revolutionary, social media will continue to evolve. People want to stay connected and wise bloggers, like yourself, will ebb and flow and change right along with it. It’s just the beginning.

    • #39954

      Robbi Hess
      Member
      @robbi

      I. personally enjoy forums — they are more targeted around topics I enjoy and I don’t have to see a photo of what “Susie had for breakfast”… again! 

      I am active in the “closed” or “secret groups” I’m involved in on FB, again because it’s very targeted and the conversations are more meaningful. 

      On occasion I will post a picture (like I did today of the never ending snowfall!) or adorable pictures of Henrietta, but I find FB, for me, for the most part is kind of draining. I interact more on LinkedIn and actually on Twitter than I used to in the past. 

      Just my two cents. 

    • #39953

      Jen | DOGthusiast&FoundPixel.com
      Participant
      @kidderton

      I truly believe we have to be careful to focus on what works for the individual and not really be too impressionable in this kind of thing. Time is a precious and limited resource (demonstrated quite eloquently to me in the past couple years in a number of ways). 

      With everything (from sponsored posts to facebook feeds to walking the dog) I think we need to ask: what do I get out of this?

      Love, learning, paycheck, health, feeling of warmpth/happiness, increased topic authority, traffic, entertainment *that I enjoy* (this could be from the act itself – you like writing or drawing), or… nothing much.

      If the answer is nothing much, don’t do it. My thought is usually I could get hit by that proverbial bus tomorrow. If the answer is one of the others, make sure the ratio fits. Do you get enough out of it to warrant the effort. Course correction on what works for the individual should always be top-of-mind, always – none of this stuff is one-size-fits-all. And the worst reason to do something is because of “what other people think”.

      Two recent favorites that are somewhat related: 

      Truth about Going Viral

      Mark Manson’s Subtle art of not giving a F&*# (profanity warning – wonderful article)

    • #39952

      Carol
      Participant
      @fidoseofreality

      Such a great point: Be your own person and don’t do it because it’s what “others” think is right. What works for one may not for another. It’s why a blog business plan is important: Different strokes for different folks.

    • #39951

      Jen | DOGthusiast&FoundPixel.com
      Participant
      @kidderton

      For me that works only after running it for awhile. At first for me it’s just getting on there with the todos and super high level, discovering the feel for what’s needed/wanted/enjoyable, then more strategy once things are moving. If there’s an ROI at that point. 100% true on my end with retail (Stylish Canine) too.

      I adore this quote in a post I read today:

      through the process of writing and publishing publicly to the world you’ll actually make better decisions about your technology and strategy because you have actually published.

      Via http://john.do/today/  (a guy who has quit a lot of social media).

      But as we were saying, no one-size-fits-all anywhere (nothing taught me that more than trying to manage a team with different learning and work styles) 🙂

      Carol Bryant said:

      Such a great point: Be your own person and don’t do it because it’s what “others” think is right. What works for one may not for another. It’s why a blog business plan is important: Different strokes for different folks.

    • #39950

      Carol
      Participant
      @fidoseofreality

      Spot on, Jen: “no one-size-fits-all anywhere”

      Jen deHaan | ProPetBlogging.com said:

      For me that works only after running it for awhile. At first for me it’s just getting on there with the todos and super high level, discovering the feel for what’s needed/wanted/enjoyable, then more strategy once things are moving. If there’s an ROI at that point. 100% true on my end with retail (Stylish Canine) too.

      I adore this quote in a post I read today:

      through the process of writing and publishing publicly to the world you’ll actually make better decisions about your technology and strategy because you have actually published.

      Via http://john.do/today/  (a guy who has quit a lot of social media).

      But as we were saying, no one-size-fits-all anywhere (nothing taught me that more than trying to manage a team with different learning and work styles) 🙂

      Carol Bryant said:

      Such a great point: Be your own person and don’t do it because it’s what “others” think is right. What works for one may not for another. It’s why a blog business plan is important: Different strokes for different folks.

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