Well, not quite, but forum members are noticing that people are shifting their focus away from forums and into blogs. Do forums have to adapt?
Not necessarily. Some forum members are not yet embracing the blogosphere. The audiences may stay the same.
And so, many think that forums can still coexist with blogs and newer social media. RuudHein adds the following:
By nature, I believe, all social media, including forums, are complementary.
Forum administrators often grapple with this problem. The discussion prompted Cre8asite administrator Kim Krause Berg to blog about it. Jill Whalen of High Rankings forums believes that both can coexist as well, as they're quite similar in what they offer:
But I really don't see forums as all that different from blogs that allow commenting.
Still, some people, like Barry Welford, do:
If you want a discussion with like-minded people, then a forum is the place to go. Social media sites like Digg, or even Sphinn, are like a whitewater river. There is little time to stop and look around. That isn't at all the nature of a successful forum.
Some people will move onto blogs, and others will stick with forums. Yet others will mix and match. There's nothing wrong with that, and forums don't appear to be going obsolete anytime soon. (If they would, Search Engine Roundtable would too, right? We only cover forum discussion, after all!)
Forum discussion continues at Cre8asite Forums and Sphinn.
