Forums vs Facebook

[fmofmpls]

There's no question that Facebook is used by millions of people as means of communication, news, and sharing of information. Almost everyone I know, including myself, uses Facebook to some degree or another. The use of Facebook and its impact on forums has been felt by many. As the administrator at UMA, I've found it challenging to try and integrate what's happening at Facebook with this forum. The UMA does have a Facebook page which is primarily used to redirect traffic back to this forum. The results have been varied, and I'm still looking for the perfect answer. One solution is to simply turn off any Facebook integration with the UMA and allow our content to be exclusive to this site. The other option is to embrace it even more with some exclusivity given to Facebook alone. I'm curious how others feel about this?

I'm sharing an article I came across the web that addresses this issue head on. The author makes some great points of which I wholeheartedly agree with.

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The Reptile Report - Forums are dead! That's what they say. Or, at least in the process of dying, they might amend, if you point out that there are plenty of busy sites out there. Actually, there are a LOT of busy sites out there, and they are thriving. Individual sites may experience slow-downs from time to time. That is cyclical, depending on things like animal breeding cycles, seasons, school calendars, weather, or holidays. There are a lot of reasons for forum traffic to ebb and flow. Some individual sites may die a slow death due to mismanagement. Apathy in the administrator or senior management is bad for a site. But the traffic you might witness at any given site is not an indicator of the overall health of forums in general. Take it from someone who must scan through thousands of new threads every day, they're doing just fine.

But, I will say that I've seen a significant trend toward the usage of Facebook. I've seen individuals I know personally go from being active forum participants to using Facebook exclusively and abandoning all previous forum ties. I have to admit, I don't get it.

I mean, I do see the appeal of Facebook. On a forum, you typically only have that site's membership as your audience. On Facebook, you may have a much wider audience. The fact that half that audience probably has little or no interest in your reptiles can be a good thing or a bad thing. On a forum, you have to work within that site's individual set of rules. For some, having to pay attention to what sort of language they use is quite a burden. On Facebook, you have a lot more freedom to just do your thing, without worrying about someone else's rules. Except Facebook's rules, which sometimes make sense and sometimes don't, and often can't be appealed. On a forum, you have to deal with the drama queens and trolls. On Facebook, you don't have to...oh wait...the drama queens and trolls are there as well. Drama and trouble makers will be found anywhere humans congregate and communicate, no matter what the format is.

Communication on Facebook is instant. You say it and it's out there for the world to see. And if it's something interesting, the feedback to it can be instant as well. That's gratifying. The problem with all that instant-ness is that someone else's instant comment/picture/video/link/share comes out right after yours. Communicating on Facebook is like throwing a rubber ducky into a fast moving river. Anyone who happens to look at just the right moment will see it, but just as quickly, it shoots on down the river and vanishes. And once it vanishes, it's gone, buried beneath a swarm of hundreds of thousands of identical rubber ducks.

Have you ever seen something on Facebook that tweaked your interest, but you didn't have time to look at it right then? You think, "Oh cool! I'll come back to that later." And when you finally get back, you can't find it anywhere? Even if you can remember whose page it originated on, you may not be able to find it easily. Facebook has almost no searchability (yeah, I'm making up words as I go along) and therefore, whatever you post there, no matter how good it is, has an extremely limited shelf life.

On the other hand, the forum interface (most of them, anyhow) is designed to organize and save everything in its relevant categories. Search functions are usually robust and easily used. It's a very simple process to view all the new content since your last visit. Threads created on a healthy forum can be viable for months, and sometimes even years. When you share valuable information on a forum site, you'll be helping far more people than you'll ever know.

The main drawback to forums is their limited audience. But The Reptile Report has changed that and removed that drawback. There are a small handful of sites that we don't patrol because those site owners asked us not to, for reasons known only to them. For the rest of the sixty-odd sites we visit on a daily basis, if you post up something important, interesting, or just really nice to look at, chances are we'll highlight it for the rest of the herping community. We do scan Facebook and numerous other sources as well, but that "rushing river" nature of Facebook means that we can only capture a tiny fraction of what we might want to highlight on the TRR pages.

Facebook has its place; I don't doubt that. It's a fantastic tool for rapid dissemination and promotion either of yourself or your favorite causes. But I highly encourage everyone to give forums another look and consider using them for the fantastic tool that they are as well, a solid foundation to ground yourself on, where the valuable information you have to share can be reached by so many beyond the immediate audience.

One last thought: Whether you're posting on Facebook or one of the numerous awesome forum sites out there, keep in mind that the TRR editors are only human. We work our asses off and do our best to bring you the best. Please don't take it personally if we miss something. We have a submission link at TRR that we encourage anyone to use to submit links to information that we might have missed.

You don't have to be a big time breeder or a political power house to be a critical part of our amazing herping community. Get out there and be a part of a local herp forum. "Local" in this sense meaning whichever one is closest to your heart. Be a friend and neighbor, help the newbies, and care for each other; it's the mortar that keeps us strong.

Judy Clothier
Chief Editor of The Reptile Report
Judy(*at*)TheReptileReport.com

[zombiehorror]

I definitely prefer the forums over Facebook!  But isn't there a forum type section on FB?  I'm pretty sure there used to be.  I know alot of folks wish to avoid FB for privacy issues but I don't think a lot of them realize that you control what goes out and what comes in on there.

The exclusive option of FB content could be an interesting concept but inevitably I think most topics/info would end up on the board anyway as we all want our monster brethren to share, explore and discover the world of the UMA.

[Hepcat]

I'm not on Facebook and I have no intention of joining. It's too mass market and I'm a counter culture feline.

Moreover, Facebook is too ephemeral. I like the permanence of forums. I want my posts/words to live forever!

[horrorhunter]

I'm not on Facebook and I have no intention of joining. It's too mass market and I'm a counter culture feline.

Moreover, Facebook is too ephemeral. I like the permanence of forums. I want my posts/words to live forever!

I second that. I'm an antisocial monster  and never joined Facebook. That's why I'm here with all the other monstrous weirdos on UMA. 

[Flower]

I'm not on any social network! 

It might come as a surprise to most of you but Flower isn't my real name and the picture in my avatar isn't the real (well it is in some ways) me.  I like to post freely on this friendly forum and have no need to find people or have people find me. 

if I was looking  for new friends or enemies  .. I might join a social network or a meet up group of some type but I'm here mainly to have fun and relax with a 'private' group of friends.  I can be myself here and not worry about 'real life' reactions as I would if I posted on FB.

*If I feel the need to vent .. it can be done honestly and privately on the forum but would be another case on FB.

It works for many people but I don't need it or want it.  One of my friends was overwhelmed with her 'old' students from her university teaching years which didn't please her.  I'm sure that someone else might've been thrilled.

I feel that there is a place for both and I'll stick with the forum.

[zombiehorror]

The "social" part of social networking is all up to the individual!!  You don't have to except friends, you don't have to divulge age, location, etc.  You don't have to put up photos of you, your family, friends or pets!  You don't have to post anything you don't want to and whatever you do post-you control who sees it and who doesn't!

I don't understand people who get overwhelmed by their Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or whatever...nor do I understand people who demonize it so?!?  As anything the experience is up to the individual user!  Not saying that it is for everyone but there is a whole lot of unnecessary fear over social media!  Along with e-mail and chat rooms, forums are one of the original forms of social media on the internet!

[Flower]

I totally agree about the 'social' part and understand about photos and all else.  At the end of the day, I only have so much time and need to spend it wisely and carefully.

I've heard too much about people who 'friend' and unfriend' people that FB sounds so Junior High School on some levels.  I agree that it has a place and works for many people.

[fmofmpls]

The UMA started out as a Yahoo group back in 2002. During that time we were under Yahoo's terms of service. They essentially owned us and our content. The same is said of Facebook. I'm not being owned by any big and dumb ass corporation anymore. That is an obstacle I will no longer overlook. I'm a big enough dumbass to screw my own stuff up. I sure don't need their help.

[Splitty]

I just use Facebook to keep track of the friends and special people I've gleaned over the years from forums gone by the wayside.  I don't post on there much, but it's a really great way to not to let friends and special people fall into oblivion.
I do NOT like having family members, general real life aquaintances, or work contacts on there. I DO NOT want them to see me joking with my friends about poop.  It's none of thier business.

I wish forums were more active though. To me still it's really the social beehive of meeting new peeps and discovering new things and ideas, it just seems they're all so dead lately (and I still don't fit in anywhere).

Twitter I CAN'T STAND.  screw twitters.

[Elisabeth]

I'm on both, and I have many FB friends...but the lack of even moderate MODERATION can turn things into hash very fast.  Anyone can join any group from ANYWHERE.  And they can be any age.  You don't know.

The anonymity, and the fact that when a friend posts something, it usually gets automatically sent to his friends list, can also makes things dicey. You hate to have to defriend AND block an otherwise OK people, when they're flooding your news feeds with political rants in ARABIC!

We're CIVIL here, and we have Burgomeisters and Constabulary to keep us so.

For which I Thank You.

"E"

[Street Worm]

FaceBook is fun for what it is, but I definitely prefer forums for talking about and looking at
stuff relating to hobbies & the like.

[fmofmpls]

The other thing about Facebook that I have a problem with is its lack of organization. You essentially have a flowing timeline of information that is visible for a brief amount of time before it sinks into oblivion. It's nearly impossible to go back and find a certain post or picture as there is no threaded structure much like a forum. You have to scroll, scroll, and scroll backwards into what feels like eternity to find something that was previously posted.

[charp13]

I also have both- UMA and the Facebook. I was signed up on Facebook by my daughter, against my will, but I now embrace it because I can share quick photos & posts with my friends & family. I also have friended many monster pals from this site, and I've never poked into their "info", other than their newsfeed. It's nice if you want to gossip or share a quick bit of info, but I prefer the long relaxing hours I spend on the UMA boards.     I don't usually "chat" on the UMA. I mostly read, look & learn! There are so many topics I regularly visit, and read during my lunchtime or other free time. I can't get enough of the Enlistee's Art Gallery and General Discussion. I tried to use the chat feature back when Dr. Geist and I were BFFs, but I am too slow of a typist to chat. It's cool.. I really can't tell you how this place has impacted my life for the better. I was a pretty solitary old lady, working with little ones all day and watching tv all night because my husband was traveling a lot.  The first time I realized that other people in this world had a MONSTER ROOM....I knew this was the place for me.   I know.....TMI!  But I love these boards & the knowledgeable & talented people that hang out here. I am in awe of so many things I see here and I love to read and learn more about our beloved creatures from people that know them so well.

[Zackuth]

I was on facebook for a bit.  When playing games I noticed my computer getting slower, then during one game it froze and I could not do anything.  Rebooted the computer and things were fine, but it was the last time I was on facebook.  I don't miss it.

[aura of foreboding]

Facebook is a fad.  The UMA is forever.   

Facebook has several drawbacks, the primary one being the disorganization.  Heck, you can't even search for an old post because the content is always hidden away.  It's a lousy interface for "staying communication," and it only works for "fleeting communication." 

For more fleeting things, like contests and events, Facebook is great.  For archived discussion -- especially with regard to toys and their history -- the forum s all.