27 replies to this topic

[mikesound]

you run a forum
if over time due to intergration of invision and facebook
the majority of your forum members end up with a facebook account and friends etc with each other
will there not come a point where your forum structure has been replaced by facebook ?

[Amy T]

Might be possible but I have seen the reverse. I have seen some communities start as a group on face book and then grow into their own site with their own forum. I am a part of a group that had that happen to them only a few months ago.

[Wolfie]

It's part of FB's ultimate goal of conquering the internet and all the sites on it.  We're just all willing suckers to the goal and are herding in like cattle.

Actually, FB and other sites are very popular and when a site offers a way to integrate with it, it's a good idea to consider using it, especially when it's a popular service.  If you have a site where your members can access other sites to post their status updates, posts, etc, then it makes it easier on your member and then they can make a 'home' out of your site while using the other services.  Also, with a connection to your site, their friends/followers/stalkers will more likely find your site and thus increase your membership.

[Michael]

Any Facebook stuff you do on your own forums is optional.  If you feel it might move members away from your forums and onto Facebook, you can certainly disable those features.

In addition, remember that you have control over your own site and can implement things on your own forums that your members want.  It's a lot harder for members to get their personal wish lists fulfilled on Facebook.

[Matt]

Allow me to quote myself:

Quote

Ok..

The point of adding Facebook integration was two fold:
1) It lowers the barrier for registration. Some people are put off by filling in a long form and waiting for activation. If they can click a button and log in with their Facebook username and password then they are encouraged to do so and participate in YOUR community. You get more members, more posts and more eyes on your content. This is good for everyone.
2) It helps promote your site via status updates and sharing links. See number #1 for the benefit of doing this.

Saying "it's just making the board a Facebook extension" is a little short sighted, as is saying that it is not a forum feature and it will not benefit you. You are welcome to ignore Facebook and continue to have nothing to do with it, but in doing so you are missing out on traffic and promotion. It's your choice as always.

We are not pandering to the social networking scene. We are simply adding tools that enable you to make the best use of today's websites. There is no compunction to use them.

As for forum only features, the last few blogs have been about ad management, soft delete, SEO and more - all very useful "forum only" enhancements.

http://community.inv...ents__1__st__20

Quote

the majority of your forum members end up with a facebook account and friends etc with each other

I don't even see how that is a threat. To use these features, you need a Facebook account, so one assumes your members already have one. Indeed, if they are going to defect to Facebook then making it easy for them to discover new content on your site will persuade them to return. Of course, if you have a vibrant and useful community then Facebook is no kind of threat.

it is not about "Facebook taking over the world", it is about being sensible and leveraging the world's most popular website for your own gain.

[bfarber]

I've heard both sides of the argument, and personally I don't see facebook replacing forums.

When I searched google for something I needed last week (information on how to fix my washing machine) guess where I found it? I'll give you a hint - it wasn't on facebook. It was on a forum.

However, I had a question I wanted to ask. I had to register and login to do this, which seemed like a lot of work for a mundane inquiry. BUT, lo-and-behold, the site offered Facebook integration. So I signed in with my facebook username and posted my question (something I might not have done if they did not have this low barrier to entry).

Some food for thought. Facebook is a social networking site centered around you and your friends. Your wall shows stuff you are interested in, your friends' posts, etc. A forum functions much much differently.

[mikesound]

leverage at what price though

facebook connect, status updates etc are advertsing facebook

if you run a forum for say deep sea submariners
and the majority of these with a interest are members and use your site as the main place for discussion

after seeing "facebook connect" and "status updates" intergration on your site
they may join facebook to see what advantage these features give

they then see other forum members and become fb friends etc

after a while the majority of your site members are now also on facebook and are all connected

with facebook offering some better or different features than invision - pms, live chat, events for example

the members start using them instead of your forum features

overlap for a time, but the saving grace is your forums

however if the majority of your members are fb friends and parts of your forums are members only

would not the walls/groups/pages start to offer the same as your forums ?

[Matt]

I wrote down most of my thoughts, here: http://blog.mattmech...end-for-forums/

[Amy T]

I remember seeing an article some where on the web were it explained how to use facebook, twitter and other social networking sites to build your members base on your own site. I think the article was actually about social media and using it to build your community. As I mentioned in my first reply to this a site I belong to started on facebook but they grew to large for facebook and wanted more control so started a site out side of facebook. It grew even faster after that as twitter was also used to help make it bigger.

[Wolfie]

fanta, on 09 February 2010 - 11:42 AM, said:

facebook connect, status updates etc are advertsing facebook

if you run a forum for say deep sea submariners
and the majority of these with a interest are members and use your site as the main place for discussion

after seeing "facebook connect" and "status updates" intergration on your site
they may join facebook to see what advantage these features give

they then see other forum members and become fb friends etc

after a while the majority of your site members are now also on facebook and are all connected

Advertising..  I highly doubt that your site will bring in more business to FB than FB could end up bringing into you.  Your site with (how many members) -vs- FB with millions upon millions upon millions of members, thousands joining daily..  The ratio is actually in YOUR favor, not against it.

Lets say your members do join though and connect with friends.  Those friends see your board within their activity and decide to check your board out.  So then, by their joining FB, they helped to bring in new members to your site.

So where's the problem?

[mikesound]

.Wolfie, on 09 February 2010 - 11:49 AM, said:

Advertising..  I highly doubt that your site will bring in more business to FB than FB could end up bringing into you.  Your site with (how many members) -vs- FB with millions upon millions upon millions of members, thousands joining daily..  The ratio is actually in YOUR favor, not against it.

Lets say your members do join though and connect with friends.  Those friends see your board within their activity and decide to check your board out.  So then, by their joining FB, they helped to bring in new members to your site.

So where's the problem?

there's isn't a problem

original post was a question

[Charles]

The Facebook integration is in IP.Board as many of our clients see value in using Facebook (and similar sites) as a platform to drive traffic to their forums. If you have a concern it is not the case with your particular community you can certainly disable all Facebook, Twitter, etc. integration points in the AdminCP.

Our goal is to provide tools for your community while keeping the system flexible enough so you can choose how to operate the software to your particular needs.

[Amy T]

This kind of reminds me of one of my friends sites. She does not allow any external linking what so ever.  Links to any site out side of her site is forbidden. Her argument was she did not want to loose members to those other sites.

[Ditchmonkey]

fanta, on 09 February 2010 - 11:42 AM, said:

leverage at what price though

facebook connect, status updates etc are advertsing facebook

if you run a forum for say deep sea submariners
and the majority of these with a interest are members and use your site as the main place for discussion

after seeing "facebook connect" and "status updates" intergration on your site
they may join facebook to see what advantage these features give

they then see other forum members and become fb friends etc

after a while the majority of your site members are now also on facebook and are all connected

with facebook offering some better or different features than invision - pms, live chat, events for example

the members start using them instead of your forum features

overlap for a time, but the saving grace is your forums

however if the majority of your members are fb friends and parts of your forums are members only

would not the walls/groups/pages start to offer the same as your forums ?

So turn it off if you don't like it. Pretty simple.

[Wolfie]

Amy T, on 09 February 2010 - 12:06 PM, said:

This kind of reminds me of one of my friends sites. She does not allow any external linking what so ever.  Links to any site out side of her site is forbidden. Her argument was she did not want to loose members to those other sites.

How is her site doing?

I personally allow links and such on my site, so long as it's not spam nor crosses the line from simple linking to becoming spam (also depends on content, like no adult stuff).  Links to personal websites and such are fine, even in the signature.  To me it encourages members to be who they are, to feel trusted and welcomed and those links could potentially bring in new members (especially if they tell friends about the welcoming environment of the board).

So just wondering, does she retain a lot of people or do they move on pretty quick?  (This question may seem off topic but may actually demonstrate the point)

[Amy T]

Matt, on 09 February 2010 - 11:45 AM, said:

I wrote down most of my thoughts, here: http://blog.mattmech...end-for-forums/

I do agree with what you are saying how ever I read this

Matt, on 09 February 2010 - 11:45 AM, said:

Whatever your reason, it’s almost certainly because of the content, not the members.

I have joined forums and sites strictly for the members. 7 or so years ago a friend of mine showed me her site/forum and I joined just because I knew her. The site in it self was terrible in design still is and has not changed much if any in the 7 years since I joined. They are using an old version of ikonborad. I do check out the site every now and again but have left do to no longer being friends with the lady who showed the site to me.

[Amy T]

.Wolfie, on 09 February 2010 - 12:17 PM, said:

How is her site doing?

I personally allow links and such on my site, so long as it's not spam nor crosses the line from simple linking to becoming spam (also depends on content, like no adult stuff).  Links to personal websites and such are fine, even in the signature.  To me it encourages members to be who they are, to feel trusted and welcomed and those links could potentially bring in new members (especially if they tell friends about the welcoming environment of the board).

So just wondering, does she retain a lot of people or do they move on pretty quick?  (This question may seem off topic but may actually demonstrate the point)

Last time I checked the site it was not doing very well and she got upset at me for my site doing better.

[mikesound]

Matt, on 09 February 2010 - 11:45 AM, said:

I wrote down most of my thoughts, here: http://blog.mattmech...end-for-forums/

But currently it all seems that its all "facebook"

I went to join a "twitter" third party site

I had a page offering intergration with other social network features

It offered one click easy and smooth intergration
with facebook, google, yahoo, aol, open id and others

I signed up with google id and it worked a treat

Have since tried doing the same both as a user and as a forum with invision and sad to say it just doesn't come anywhere close apart from the facebook intergration

Concern is that its all seems to be just too facebook centric which is imo going to have a effect on your forum

[Wolfie]

fanta, on 09 February 2010 - 12:21 PM, said:

It offered one click easy and smooth intergration
with facebook, google, yahoo, aol, open id and others

I signed up with google id and it worked a treat

Have since tried doing the same both as a user and as a forum with invision and sad to say it just doesn't come anywhere close apart from the facebook intergration

Concern is that its all seems to be just too facebook centric which is imo going to have a effect on your forum

3.1 will have better Twitter integration and the OpenID support (which includes Google) is still kind of new, so it's going to take a few kinks to get fully worked out.

[mikesound]

Ditchmonkey, on 09 February 2010 - 12:07 PM, said:

So turn it off if you don't like it. Pretty simple.

thanks for that,
am aware that is an option, however do have concerns about this whole issue hence why I posted