Engagement What’s the future of online communities?

[Cpvr]

Over time, we’ve seen online communities come and go, especially with the rise of social media. However, they still remain one of the strongest backbones of the internet.

Online communities bring people together for learning, networking, and discussion. Over the years, we’ve also seen various forum software releases that have made community building easier, not harder. But what do you think the future holds for online communities?

Will they continue to thrive despite the dominance of social media, or do you see them taking a step back in the coming years?

After all, social media can also be considered a form of online community, as it connects users in groups—but not in the same way as forums do.

Do you think more forum software will enter the fediverse, like NodeBB, allowing communities to reach a broader audience? Or do you believe forums will remain independent?

What are your thoughts on the future of online communities?

 

[Ravenfreak]

I'm thinking we're going to see a rise of self hosted communities soon. Platforms like Reddit and Facebook are censoring certain content now, and I'm hoping more people will open their eyes and realize that their communities hosted on these platforms can be taken down in any moment in time, without any notice.

 

[CTS]

I think forums are always stronger (as a whole) than it was in the beginning.

But I think i need to keep perspective of actual traffic reasons.

MySpace started grabbing the younger people. Then Facebook pops up and steals them, but then it's infiltrated by adults, companies, and spammers. And of course twitter trained us all to post in little short paragraphs. And can't leave out the incessant doom-scrolling that TikTok makes us do. And then the games. Oh god, the games.

I feel that organically, forums still have a solid following, and people that post in forums will always be there and grow.

I suggest that I am saying, we are not in competition to get back members. Nor to be more popular. When forums were everywhere, many many of them didn't survive the onslaught of tangents that social media provided. So before the big boys stole everyone, there was just forums and bulletin boards.

Now there are a ton of options available for traffic to follow.

And my goal is to entice a few visitors to stop and look around before they tap away. Maybe one or two signing up now and then would be nice too.

m2c