Forums, Message Boards, Bulletin Boards, I’ve heard them called a lot of things over the years. Unlike its cousin, the chat room, forums survived the dot bomb explosion virtually unscathed. (Although I hear chat rooms may be making a comeback.)
We see them used a lot these days on social community, Web 2.0 and new media sites, but are they new media?
Forums are a staple for user groups and tech community sites. They can posses a wealth of useful information and a well managed one is worth its weight in gold. Of course an un-managed one can be the bane of ones existence.
the problem with forums, currently, is that for the non techie or those unaccustomed to using forums, they can seem daunting. There are un written rules, social norms, and often overlapping topics making it difficult to figure out where to post.
While forums might not be *new*, I would put them in the Web 2.0 line up. Especially ones that integrate RSS. Now as soon as they all wake up and add tagging that will make navigating these sites much simpler. There are a new breed of forums popping up that are incorporating more Web 2.0 capabilities, like Vanilla and BBPress. I think we are just starting to see what will be a major trend in revamped forums platforms.
Most of the forums I use are built around small private groups but I like the Diigo Collaboration forum, because it ties in with my Diigo bookmarks. Do you have a favorite forum?
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