Im just going to leave my little rant right here.
PSA: There is no support on Facebook, Twitter or any similar social media website.
While Facebook is a nice medium to share information, it is utterly unsuitable for any form of serious support.
With message forums, all topics have their own discussion threads on your message forum .com, which can be referenced and shared in most social networking websites.
If your users need assistance, want to start a new discussion, look up group answers, file a bug report, or discuss anything related to a release, they can do so, by simply going to a relevant discussion category on your message forum.
HOW THE PLATFORMS DIFFER:
Facebook/Twitter = Comments on individual topics. Opinions.
UBB.threads/Discussion Forums = Discussions leading to answers. Solutions.
If Reddit can do it, why is your forum unable to do it?
The truth is, there are still many successful forums out there. And there are dead ones, where the forum owners complain about Facebook/Twitter. Either their [dying/now dead] forum wasnt a strong forum to begin with, or their clientele really just wanted to share opinions, or their topics were great last decade, but times have changed in this decade. If Reddit can be made successful by doing exactly what your forum software does, why is your own forum unable to do it?
in 2000-2008, there were a number of people who visited websites daily. now in 2009-2017, that number has mostly doubled! meaning that the pool for "eyes" has doubled. if your forum cannot capture XX number of eyes for your main topics, plus the new YY number of eyes, that is not a problem of Facebook. That is a problem of changing times and your ability to adapt to the changed times.
Slapping on 80% more ads to your website and complaining that you're not making 80% more income than you did last decade, is being blind. Your ads today are not only competing the doubled amount of ads all over the rest of the internet, but you are also annoying your visitors 80% more than you did last decade!
Times change. Either adapt to these changes, or keep doing the same thing you've been doing for the past decades and continue to see people leave. The upset argument about "Facebook killed my website" is not time well spent. Figure out what your customers TODAY want, and then give that to them.
Also keep in mind, that while you are still very excited about the topic of your forum, the general population may have moved on. Your niche website could have been a fad at one time. That era has come to pass. Be thankful you were part of leading it.
Facebook/Twitter = Comments on individual topics. Opinions.
UBB.threads/Discussion Forums = Discussions leading to answers. Solutions.
Its why companies which care about providing technical support for their products, primarily use discussion forums. Not Facebook or Twitter.
/rant /wallotext #thankyouforreading
[ image ]MorganFreemanMeme.jpg[ /image ]
