Page 1 of Will forums like this survive the growth of `social networking`?

I`m sure it`s been a thought running through RJS`s mind at some point.

Sites such as Facebook have seen phenomenal growth in the last few years, and now Google+ is challenging it (to a certain extent anyway). With that kind of growth and popularity - is there still a place for sites such as this one to keep on going and growing?

I`d personally like to hope there is.

The level of anonymity (although quite a few of you are friends on Facebook / Google+ ;)) that it provides is often reassuring, but then I never really say anything that controversial anyway - since you never know when it will come back to haunt you...not that I have ambitions of running for prime minister! But numbers do seem to be dwindling.
A lot of the `old regulars` seem to visit less often, and the discussions don`t seem to be nearly as large as they used to be. Admittedly I haven`t visited as much as I used to, but that`s due to both work commitments and my work`s proxy server continuously categorising the site as a "games" site if someone so much as mutters the words "call", "of" & "duty" in any one thread. 

So folks, what do we think? Can we get the good ship reviewer growing again? Or do you think it`s a dying breed? (I like to hope not!)

Did the Facebook thing but got sick and tired of people `facebooking` mundane s***e like what they had for tea or what they did on holiday.
So binned it and not be going back!
I like the intellectuals on here ;)



IN MADNESS YOU DWELL

This item was edited on Monday, 18th July 2011, 20:18

I think there`s room for both, I`m sure like many ppl I see dvd reviewer as a different animal to facebook/google+ etc.

I come here to get help/help people/ share opinion on common interests with fairly like minded ppl, or tap a group of ppl who have knowledge of something "real life" ppl and I don`t.

i think forums like this killed of newsgroups(as a discussion forum), I used to use various alt.music. groups etc daily, but haven`t in years, and I don`t think any of my friends touch newsgroups now.

I never use facebook or twitter because people crazily write there whole lives down there for all to see.

I prefer this type of site where you get a wealth of information and usually good answers.

Can`t see the point of Google+ meself...

I see them as different beasts too.

I tend to use twitter as a news stream. It`s important to know what someone is having for lunch or that they are `on a train`. Actually, I do get the best up to date and breaking news there and there are some seriously funny bastards on there too.

Facebook is mostly populated by teenagers. I feel like I`m a dad at a disco (yes, I said disco).

No threat at all... i dont do Facebook, and i am not a wt[at]...rett although the wife may disagree? :D

I would like to think places like this will survive. I don`t do Facebook at all but do have a twitter account which i use to communicate with friends or aimlessly rant on. Google+ account is setup but not logged in to it since!
I use forums like this for information purposes to discuss a certain topic in an easy to follow way, it`s nigh on impossible to do that on social networking sites IMO

Many moons ago, I was a senior member of a few MSN-based forums, and was an admin of the official MSN movies chatroom. The chatroom was closed down due to the rampant tabloid paranoia regarding grooming, and the MSN forums, or `groups` as they were later called, were closed down, and we were referred to another early form of social network called Multiply. All the members lost interest immediately, and they were lost to the ages.

Social networking is a completely different beast to the wonderful forum we all inhabit, and will never replace it, mainlu because some of the rants we all launch into on a whim can`t possibly be contained within the character limits placed by their systems

So no. Social networks will never replace established forums such as this, because while you can have a chat on facebook, you can`t have a conversation

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I like the intellectuals on here


Nice of u to remember me :)......Iv never twittered, facebooked or will i + my google (whatever that is), I`m fine here thank u very much (although im sure one or two would like to see the back of me)

Long Live Reviewer

It`s funny, I find our forums here a community, whereas I see Facebook as somewhere very different. You wouldn`t go there for any sort of discussion.

I kind of hope that we already did survive the social networking boom!

I`ve tried to do a lot of work to get the usability of the site as easy as possible without annoying the old farts too much. One thing I`m going to try in the near future is encouraging new users to start a Hello thread, since we do get a regular sign up stream.


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