Are Forums becoming irrelevant?

Hankins

Hankins

Joined
Dec 7, 2008
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Are Forums becoming irrelevant, not just knife forums but in general?
As time and technology marches on find spending time at a stationary computer to be a burden. With all the mobile apps, instagram, pinterest, imgur instant pic sharing for mobile phones. Everyone wants it NOW
Are we loosing market share and interest?
For non makers or those who are out and about in the world... Who has time to sit and read a forums these days
Definite decline in hit count here
Am I wrong?
 
It does seem people do not want to use the internet to learn as much as before.
 
Are Forums becoming irrelevant

I say not, we have to realize there is a lot more competition for our eyeballs and everyone will find something they like and use it. Also there are a lot of other knife forums. Some of the conversations on those forums may be more directed at non-knifemakers.

This forum is still by far the best, and continue to provide important information and keep knifemaking moving forward.
 
I think it's another tool for many businesses that can either help or hurt. I can never depend on one system to make me income. Marketing tools depend on repetition.
 
Krav "Bingo"
This Forum over the past 15 or so yrs has been indispensable in helping get thru many learning curves associated with knife making
However that being said, sending your images out to the "Cyber Universe" brings in the law of big numbers
Would also look at it as an opportunity to educate and create interest on a larger scale
 
Hankins said:
Are Forums becoming irrelevant, not just knife forums but in general?
As time and technology marches on find spending time at a stationary computer to be a burden. With all the mobile apps, instagram, pinterest, imgur instant pic sharing for mobile phones. Everyone wants it NOW
Are we loosing market share and interest?
For non makers or those who are out and about in the world... Who has time to sit and read a forums these days
Definite decline in hit count here
Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I think it's hard to say with any certainty... There is a huge knife presence on Instagram, as a matter of fact many BF members are a big part of it. I noticed that the ad you placed for your mini desperado had 850+ views. On IG there would be significantly less... but the "likes" generated would quite possibly be from more pre qualified buyers. My Instagram friends that sell on IG also post in the BF marketplace and possibly other sites. If you are trying to sell, going cross platform to other sites isn't a bad idea. I still think BF is the best but more exposure doesn't hurt ;)

I love checking out the new posts here on BF every night or morning depending what my schedule is like, BF is easy to navigate and you can tell a story with multiple pics. It's much harder to do that on Instagram and Pinterest (mounting multiple pics for a story) You are much more limited but like everything, it depends what you have time for. If i'm in line for a coffee, I'm probably going to check my Instagram feed. If I'm going to sit down and have a bit more time, I'll probably do a quick sweep of BF.

I would definitely NOT say forums are becoming irrelevant... Forums are a form of social media and like all social media these days there is a lot of competition. They (the forums) are a fantastic source for learning material, sales, trades and general conversation and advice, things much harder to post in single pic form. I would say market share has been reduced but if most members are like myself (and most others), were here at least a few times per day. I don't think Forums are the "MySpace" of the times.

-Cheers
 
Just because there is something new, does not mean that the previous things are irrelevant.
See the following in the "traditional" forum section.


Content is the draw, not the medium.

There is no point connecting to everyone about everything instantly if it's all just bullship
My example = Twitter Celebrities and their fawners but nothing of value.


The telephone has changed, but I bet you still have one.
When I was a kid, there was only one in the house, now several. in the house plus one in everyone's pocket.


Keep in mind that people get stuck on the level of tech that they learned and may not progress further.
The old farts that use the phone, but not the computer - they are the ones that have spending money.




Many that use phones use tapatalk and other apps to view forums

Definite decline in hit count here
Click to expand...
Can you give me examples and sources ?


There is fragmentation from here once people realized how relatively simple and cheap it is to run a forum and control the content, or delve into specialities

Add up all the forum traffic from all of these

Knifeforums
bladeforums
ed fowler
knifedoggs
I forge Iron
kitchen knife forum
usual suspects network
edc
candlepower
knifetalkforums.com
www.cheftalk.com
jersey devil
british blades
www.australianbladeforums
www.japanesechefsknife.com
www.allaboutpocketknives.com
http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/
www.survivalistboards.com ›
www.rickhindererknives.com/rick-hinderer-knives-forum/
ABS
www.knifemakersguildforums.com
www.talkblade.info/viewforum.php?f=1
ukbladesforum.co.uk/forum/index.php
straight razor place
badgerandblade.com/vb/forum
plus all the manufacturer forums, spyderco, benchmade and all the rest



I'm sure there are more, especially once you hit different languages



I think the repeat customers on the high dollar knives are very much relationship selling.
Selling knives in the thousands, people have to like you. they are buying a piece of you.

You may gather some attention with photos, but you need other avenues for further info and more intimate customer contact.


Likes and clicks are not dollars.
What's the conversion rate between likes, clicks and purchases ?
 
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I learned to make knives at Bladeforums. I run my business through here too. I won't be switching to facebook.
 
Not at all irrelevant. There is a growing need to be as multi-channeled as possible, which simply means to be aware of and to collect data from your customers wherever they may be. If you have a website, do you just collect data from customers that visit the site, or do you also seek out their reviews elsewhere.

Disclaimer: I don't sell knives, so this perspective comes from the Big Data culture of my company. While your knife business may not be a multi-billion dollar corporation, the same rules can be scaled down and in theory produce the same results.

tl;dr version: Forums aren't irrelevant but they are just one piece of the bigger pie.
 
ron_m80 said:
It does seem people do not want to use the internet to learn as much as before.
Click to expand...

I disagree there. The internet is largely responsible for the decline of printed newspapers. If information is easier to find and consume online, people will do so.
 
No. With disease outbreak predicted as it is forums will become havens of info. even more demanded for entertainment and other things such as like minded social gathering that used to be person to person at various places. Even re-unions per say are taking place at times in chat rooms in the future I see and probably due to fears of disease.

Speaking of this. It is my guess that just around the corner from now in history we will be able to look back to when parents will be arguing that schools are no longer safe for them or their children due to the risk of new diseases but that they are no longer necessary the way we do them because we can do it with interactive 80" monitor room to room chatroom teaching where the teacher and all students are home!

I also see masks such as those being ordered by the truck load by FEMA (N95), will become hard to find. so if you use those buy some now.
 
I don't think the forums are going away. Like has been mentioned previously, if you want a quick top off you can go to facebook or instagram, if you want to really fill your tank you will have to slow down and surf a forum. FB and IG have their place but you just get a preview of what is immediately available. They do not do a lot, in my opinion, for the exchange of ideas and information that a forum can and does provide.
 
It's a fact that online sales have been growing exponentially over the past decade. That's a pretty promising thing considering the economic hardships the international/domestic consumer has faced... I can say that if I'm going to purchase anything online, I read numerous forum posts (many times in forums I don't belong to) in order to research said product... Forums are fast becoming the hub for subject matter expertise whether you're raising snails for gourmet restaurants, changing the timing belt on your daewoo, or investing in a $7,500 sword.
 
Having been a member, moderator and administrator on several forums over the last 15 yrs or so, I can tell you that there is a kind of "seasonal cycle" that occurs.

Spring
New members(experienced and novice) participate and share. A few rise to the top and become the major contributors. The site grows in popularity.

Summer
The flow of information increases. More folks join and soon the forum becomes a "hotspot" for members of every level(novice, intermediate and pro).

Fall
Major contributors find themselves posting less. Very little "new" info is being released. The repetitive questions of new members starts to become monotonous to the senior forumites/regulars. There is still good info to be found... it is just not as "active" as it once was.

Winter
With less participation from the key contributors of the past, people begin to feel the forums are in a decline. New members are still joining but the "meat and potatoes" posts are months/years old and necroposting in frowned upon. The newbies become the majority and less-than-experienced advice is on the rise. There is only a handful of the "old guard" left and some are bitter... oftentimes for good reason.

Smaller forums can completely die out during a "Winter". I think BladeForums is diverse enough that even though certain sub-forums can waver, the site as a whole carries on.

That's my take on it, anyway.
 
Forums will always be relevant so long as there is a vibrant community of users to support them. Quality, user contributed content is what keeps people coming back.
 
Twitter, instagram, pintrest, all shallow fluff. Forums are still the best way to learn about a topic and share information. I also visit forums almost exclusively on my cell phone.
Reddit is major force but it's just a forum with an odd format. I've never really cared for it.
 
Forums are my lifeline to the world. I live 4 miles back along a country road with the largest town of any significance 2 hours away. I would push the TV out the back door before forking over my internet connection.
 
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