Will Social Media be replaced by forums?

[KorinKitty]

Before the massive boom of Facebook and Twitter and the less popular Myspace and those other ones I can't remember (lol), most people communicated online through forums like this one. Some would be a part of several forums, others would just stick to one and treat it like a "home online".

I got to thinking about all the negative stuff with social media happening the last few years. From deleting content to outright banning people on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube without any violation of any rules... Do you think people will eventually get fed up and revert back to forums?

I never got into Facebook and I seldom use Twitter. I prefer forums myself.

[Serena Majors]

I hope we do go back to forums. They were fun at first but now, people are just mean. I was always taught "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." People need to apply this lesson to online posts and comments as well.

The only reason why I have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts is because I have to for work.

[OutlawBard19]

I'd enjoy a return of forums to the limelight. They don't foster the same kind of narcissism you find on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all that. Everyone's anonymous, and people aren't caught up trying to outdo each other. These little niche communities spring up in forums, just like our own on the Nexus. It makes me happy that people are still into this kind of communication, where we can chill out and relax, even if it's only a few of us who are active at a time. We don't need to keep up with the Joneses, y'know?

[Mantis]

Perhaps if there was a real-life rewind button I could see this happening. Unfortunately I don't predict a replacement. Social media will probably continue being a 'thing' for the foreseeable future. Now Instagram is the most popular social media platform and it doesn't seem like that long ago when it started gaining traction. It's only a matter of time until Instagram is dethroned by another. They might be different in many ways, but they all share one thing in common: instant gratification.

You don't really have to do much on these social media platforms. Twitter's tweets have low character counts. Though it was considered by many a limitation, it relied on this to gain popularity. Quick and easy; it'd take you less than a minute to write an update that might gain hundreds of likes or retweets. That limitation was eventually reduced but it's still quite low.

Facebook is more "social" than Twitter, but they can be used similarly: Take photo, write a few words, post, and in your narcissistic pursuit for likes... just wait. Do nothing. Same story with Instagram or Snapchat. It's all about instant gratification. There are even services that provide likes for a fee, and they've made millions.

Conversely, forums are difficult. You actually have to write a paragraph sometimes. That's rough, right? Forums will continue to be a niche when faced against social media giants because most people just don't want to put in the effort to use a forum. As long as more social media sites and apps come along every few years people will keep using them. I'd love to see forums make a full return but I think that's about as likely as Earth being flat.

I've met great people through this forum and other forums too, but let's face the fact that we're now a minority and that will probably never change...

[KorinKitty]

Perhaps if there was a real-life rewind button I could see this happening. Unfortunately I don't predict a replacement. Social media will probably continue being a 'thing' for the foreseeable future. Now Instagram is the most popular social media platform and it doesn't seem like that long ago when it started gaining traction. It's only a matter of time until Instagram is dethroned by another. They might be different in many ways, but they all share one thing in common: instant gratification.

You don't really have to do much on these social media platforms. Twitter's tweets have low character counts. Though it was considered by many a limitation, it relied on this to gain popularity. Quick and easy; it'd take you less than a minute to write an update that might gain hundreds of likes or retweets. That limitation was eventually reduced but it's still quite low.

Facebook is more "social" than Twitter, but they can be used similarly: Take photo, write a few words, post, and in your narcissistic pursuit for likes... just wait. Do nothing. Same story with Instagram or Snapchat. It's all about instant gratification. There are even services that provide likes for a fee, and they've made millions.

Conversely, forums are difficult. You actually have to write a paragraph sometimes. That's rough, right? Forums will continue to be a niche when faced against social media giants because most people just don't want to put in the effort to use a forum. As long as more social media sites and apps come along every few years people will keep using them. I'd love to see forums make a full return but I think that's about as likely as Earth being flat.

I've met great people through this forum and other forums too, but let's face the fact that we're now a minority and that will probably never change...

I am actually a part of several forums and most people on said forums seldom use social media. I myself am using it less and less. I just can't be bothered. I would much rather connect with people over joined interests then read about people complaining over Trump, bashing people who don't agree with them, or spewing a bunch of self-emotional one liners to impress people who don't give a crap about them. Maybe I have always been anti-social media. I just prefer social networking (niche forums and online social gatherings).

[Zemekis]

I am actually a part of several forums and most people on said forums seldom use social media. I myself am using it less and less. I just can't be bothered. I would much rather connect with people over joined interests then read about people complaining over Trump, bashing people who don't agree with them, or spewing a bunch of self-emotional one liners to impress people who don't give a crap about them. Maybe I have always been anti-social media. I just prefer social networking (niche forums and online social gatherings).

Younger people are using social media less and less, but it's popularity is being maintained by all the Moms and Aunts who LIVE on those sites. I haven't been on Facebook in months, but I know my 55 y/o aunt posts at least 20 things per day.

[Mantis]

I was looking at some analytics. While older people are taking over Facebook, the majority of users are below middle-aged.

Instagram, obviously dominated by millennials and mostly girls, with the older audiences barely making up over 20%.

Twitter is mostly used by millennials. It does have its share of middle-aged users though, but not nearly to the extent Facebook has. Gender is nearly an equal split but there's slightly more men.

Interestingly (despite not really being a social network), YouTube is mostly used by 30-year-old boomers to middle-aged. Only a fraction are children, which is mind-blowing when you look at the comment sections. Most YouTube users are men.

Unsurprisingly, Snapchat is dominated by millennials, with 2/3 of users being female. In fact, only around 15% of users are in their thirties or older.

So there you have it. Younger people aren't leaving social networks any time soon. Any older Outlaw Star fans wanna join?

[Zemekis]

[LtSurge]

I like the concept of Internet Forums such as OSN more than any other social media analogue for a few key reasons...

1. Organization
Assuming the designers and moderators know what they're doing, the Internet Forum is very reliable in categorizing content and displaying it in GUI, like a virtual filing cabinet. You can hop subforums with ease, unlike with Facebook or Twitter-style sites that have only this endlessly-scrolling single page.
[Idea: a minimizable Quick Navigation widget that follows the screen as you scroll instead of having it fixed to the bottom or top of the page.]


2. Memory
The endless single pages of Facebook and Twitter act like memory holes. While you could theoretically do a search on anything ever said, it is tedious at best. As a result, the same subject is likely to appear over and over again over the course of a Group's life, something I witnessed firsthand during my time spent on Facebook. For Internet Forums, it is a Sin to open new Threads over the same exact topic because it is easy enough to navigate to the original. While some people frown on necroing "dead" Threads, I think I prefer that to seeing rehashes of the same discussion ad infinitum.


3. Long-form Discussion
Posts like this couldn't exist on "modern" social media.
While I think the Twitter-style system has value to it as a news aggregator, it is not designed for deep and protracted conversation. Points 1 and 2 illustrate this.
With the Internet Forum system, you could easily fashion a novel into the body of your Post.


4. Personality
Ironically, the more "social" the social media is, the less personal it seems to get.
This is because sites like Facebook and Twitter are designed and governed by big corporations trying to cater to as big a population as it can get, instead of a target userbase or audience.

I liken the situation to Cities vs Towns/Villages. Living in a city, you are packed very tightly with thousands of people. However, it doesn't lend itself well to personal interaction. In a village, the population may be much smaller, but it's a lot easier to remember people and get involved with the community. Quality over quantity.

This is why I like the idea of Intentional Communities much more than living in a big city. We, as social creatures, are better off in smaller communities of our own creation than we are in giant, atomized, sanitized corporate cells.

---

I think there's a good purpose for Twitter and Facebook-esque systems, but I doubt they will ever replace the classic Internet Forum. They serve, in my view, different roles.
That's why I use both.
I use Gab/Dissenter to comment on news and drop one-liners. I use Forums for longer, greater discussion.

videos

Saw what you did there

[KorinKitty]

I think Facebook's main group now in terms of age is 30 to 50. Instagram is like 12 to 24. Twitter is.... A mess.

I still don't think these average users would last long on forums... They would either get bored or annoy other forum members and get banned. lol