Forums vs. Social media

[Dominique]

How do you compare a forum with social media? Which one is better for building an online community? Do you think having a Facebook group or discord server can be better than building your own self hosted forum?

 

[Nomad]

It depends on your purpose of building a community. For meaningful discussions, forums are good, but if you want to build a community so that you can sell your products, social media sites are better platform

 

[Dominique]

Are social media's are just for sales? Cannot we have meaningful discussions on social media as well? Cannot we use forums for generating sales as well?

 

[Nomad]

Social media sites are not just for sales, social media sites are also for meaningful discussion. However, the way people are using social media sites, these sites are developing into broadcasting platform rather than discussion platform. For instance, you can see how Reddit works and how Instagram works. You cannot see meaningful discussion on Instagram like on Reddit.

 

[Ja sa bong]

Social media sites are very toxic which is the reason why I am more comfortable and disposed to making use of forums. A lot of people who are on different social media sites are keyboard warriors who don't know how to actively engage people without cursing online.

 

[eLdavis]

When it comes to creating community mainly for discussion, i think building a forum would be best, but when it comes to a community for business or sharing of files and the like, i think social media would be a perfect choice.

 

[koyala]

Forums and social media serve different purposes. Forums are for deeper, more focused discussions with niche communities, while social media is better for quick interactions and broad audience engagement. Forums provide longevity and depth in topics, while social media excels at real-time updates and wider reach.

 

[Henrywrites]

They are two different worlds. In social media, the popularity is there, and users can easily sign up as a result of friends letting them come around. It is different when it comes to forums where you would need to do more work before you can make people join up.

 

[Nomad]

Social media are better platforms for marketing and sharing content as you have bigger reach. There are few platforms like Reddit for meaningful discussion but social media are basically for broadcasting content.

 

[Heatman]

Social media platforms can do very well without forums but can forums do without social media platforms? I don't think so, because the answer is NO! Forums are trying to copy the success of social media platform today but it's not being easy.

 

[Kennysplash]

I will say that social media is still the most preferred for online communities. We cannot compare the number of forum users to that of social media in any way.

 

[Deep]

How do you compare a forum with social media? Which one is better for building an online community? Do you think having a Facebook group or discord server can be better than building your own self hosted forum?

Forums offer control and structure; social media provides reach and engagement. Facebook or Discord is easier, but less ownership.

 

[Dominique]

Exactly, forums give full control over data and community rules, ideal for niche authority. Social platforms like Discord or Facebook are easier to grow but risk algorithm changes or platform limitations. Balance both wisely.

 

[samsun56]

Forums offer control and structure; social media provides reach and engagement. Facebook or Discord is easier, but less ownership.

Likewise, you couldn't have described it better, said and done, exactly as you yourself have put it.

 

[Medical-enthusiast]

Likewise, you couldn't have described it better, said and done, exactly as you yourself have put it.

People post junk comments and posts on social media. I am not saying that forum posters do not post junk content. However, whenever a person posts misleading or junk post on the forum, I counter them and even report them to the admin. You can interact with the admin in a direct manner. This is not the case with the owners of social media platform. I have stopped posting in a few forums where the owner actually sided with the person who was posting offensive content. We need a healthy community. Unfortunately, some social media platforms and forums tend to be toxic.

 

[samsun56]

People post junk comments and posts on social media. I am not saying that forum posters do not post junk content. However, whenever a person posts misleading or junk post on the forum, I counter them and even report them to the admin. You can interact with the admin in a direct manner. This is not the case with the owners of social media platform. I have stopped posting in a few forums where the owner actually sided with the person who was posting offensive content. We need a healthy community. Unfortunately, some social media platforms and forums tend to be toxic.

I've never thought about it before, but you're right. You have someone to turn to to prevent the forum from being filled with spam or junk posts. When that happens, you let them know and it gets deleted. On social networks, you can't do that as such, but you can moderate by placing filters and avoiding stupid comments or spam. For example, on Facebook, you can do the same thing. Also, if it's a group that you created, you can moderate the content, which would prevent people from posting pure nonsense.