Chapter 6 establishes the basics of Internet forums and the bond and trust build around them. The forum was the name for one of the first Internet-based networking and online communication tools and still is a great way to engage people in an interactive ongoing conversation on a particular subject. It can also be described as a web site application that manages and provides a medium for ongoing online discussion on a particular subject. My first thought at this description was to think back to when chat rooms where popular, but a chat room differs in some aspects. A chat room differs slightly from a forum because a chat room participation requires the member to actively read and post to the conversation in real time whereas in a forum, you can reply days later. Forums also differ in their makeup including moderators, administrators, registration, posts, members, and subscriptions while a member of a forum member who repeatedly breaks etiquette is referred to as a troll.
Why have forums been able to be successful? Forums build strong community ties, loyalty, and its ability to build a trusted network. Forums are meant to be read, and share ideas and concerns and as long as you fully participate. By participating in this type of idea sharing and opinion sharing, the group members’ passion on a specific subject forms a bond between them, and this bond is what makes the trusted network as effective and as loyal as it is.
I have personally never participated in an internet forum that wasn’t a part of an already present social media such as Myspace or Facebook. There were groups in Facebook that contained threads, members that all shared a common interest, and administrators, but members didn’t have to register to Facebook to specifically discussion this interest. I do know that the beginnings of Internet forums were also the beginnings of photo sharing, something that further progressed through MySpace and Facebook. I think Internet forums will always be useful because of the fact that it bonds people with a common interest. Common interests and passionate causes will never fail to bring people together. While forum is one of the oldest technologies on the Web it still is a great way to easily create a trusted community around your company, product, brand, service, or subject matter and it’s free!
Only time I use forums is when I have a technical problem like on my phone or something and I can't figure out if it's me or the technology, I'll go to the forum on the manufacturer's website or just google "HTC Droid" and I'll get a geeky technical forum where people have fixed that very same problem and they're sharing that with others. Other forums are feedback forums on online news sites, like the New York Times, Lincoln Journal Star, they all have feedback forums where people agree/disagree with things reported in the story. Some are anonymous (which I don't like. People can be vile.)
ReplyDeleteWhat I got out of this chapter is that if your audiences are going to have a forum, have them do it on your site where you can guide the conversation. Moderating helps keep these trolls at bay, and helps you listen to what's going on. Maybe my Droid problem is something everyone is experiencing and Verizon needs to fix it? They would know if we're having that forum discussion on their site. Then, that's good PR for them.