Has this forum lost its way

[okie]

RP , my friend you are not getting the point . I mentioned the quizzes as example . It does not hold the interest and as such does not encourage participation .

As leachy says : we suffer with (not from) the obsession with social media

as can be seen by all the posts from latest sightings being used to keep us

"quite vibrant".

And I agree with him- that's not really 'being vibrant " ......... or what say you , leachy

[ExFmem]

First, thank you Okie for caring enough to raise the issue.

As mentioned in previous posts, I think social media is the main factor in the slow erosion of the number of people who join and/or post to Forums now. There are a number of discussions on this topic on various websites, and it seems to be an issue on many Forums, not just AW.

Here are a couple of the posts I found -

"Facebook:
Everyone's heard of it.
You're already signed up.
That's where all your friends are.
Your grandmother can use it.
Your forum:
No matter how awesome it is, it has the 4 strikes above against it before you start.

People have a limited time to spend online, even retired or shut-ins only have so much energy. The ultra penetration of Facebook and its ilk attract the “lighter weight” participants – I mean those who are not super invested and will lurk a lot more than they’ll post."


I am a relative hermit when it comes to social media - am not on Facebook and do not have a fancy phone with lots of apps. Just my personal preference, so I will ask a naive question to those of you who use your phones a lot -
What is the impact of increased use of phones for communication rather than computer/browsers? Is AW easily accessed via phone apps and is it easy to contribute to Forums on them, or is it mainly for perusing, not participating?

I certainly agree there is a very small number of members here who respond to various topics, and I also am guilty of reading lots of topics but not taking the time to respond.

I guess the obvious answer to those of us who do enjoy this Forum is to make a concerted effort to be more interactive - even just posting a few entries daily, every other day, etc. It really doesn't take that much time and would certainly help to insure the future of AW and make it more vibrant to others as well as ourselves.

I'll take that pledge - anybody want to join me?

[Richprins]

Very interesting, Ex!

There are sometimes dozens of guests on the forum - perhaps indeed people tend to "lurk", as you say?

What some forums do is to create fake new members now and again to try and stimulate discussion. Fortunately we are not at that level yet!

Regarding posting latest sightings - well, if you don't like it don't read it?

[okie]

From the answers and replies on this thread it seems there are indeed some concern that this forum is not progressing as it should be , or as well as all want it to be .
And I look at the bottom of the page and I see this :
In total there are 7 users online :: 5 registered, 0 hidden and 2 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 93 on Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:31 pm

Registered users: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot], okie, Trendiction [Bot], Yandex [Bot]

Now , I am stupid , and I do not know who Bing , and Bot , and Trendiction , or Yandex are , but I assume that these are search-engines or whatever .
Whatever , it seems at this moment I am the only ( registered ) one active on the forum -- 7.00 am ....
But at some time in the past ( Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:31 pm ) , there were actually 93 people online . And at that time , the AW forum did not have that many members , whereas today the number it is almost 900 .

So , what has happened in the past 5 years , and why does the ACTIVE membership not increase ?

As a entrepreneur and businessman , my outlook is that one should concentrate on your strengths , not your weaknesses . And do a SWOT analysis in order to find out what those strengths and weaknesses are .
S- Strength
W- Weakness
O - Opportunity.
T - Threats .

You all mention Social media as the Biggest threat , and indeed , I agree with ExFmem , people have limited time to spend online . And they are also disinclined to speak up outside their own group...

But , whereas this forum has close-on 900 REGISTERED members , with only very small limited number active , the AW Facebook has 3336 registered members . Now , THAT , as far as I see , is a HUGE opportunity . Its a gold-mine for potential members to the forum and I think that it could certainly be exploited .
You may be looking upon Social media as a weakness and threat to this forum , but I see it as a possible strength instead .
Currently , the Pic of the day is posted onto FB , and I am quite sure that there are many more people looking at that , than what are looking at it on the actual AW Forum pages .
And maybe regularly post an interesting thread onto FB . Specifically invite all those members to join the forum . Most of them probably do not know about the AW forum and you need to constantly bring it to their attention . See what reaction you get , and you may be pleasantly surprised .
I mean , what happened on Sunday , 17th November 2013 at 4.131 pm to attract 93 people ? Out of around 200 or so registered members ?
Just think how VIBRANT this forum can be if there are just 93 active participants , even if it does happen on social media .
Do not despair , just go for it , you've got nothing to lose

[okie]

Very interesting, Ex!

There are sometimes dozens of guests on the forum - perhaps indeed people tend to "lurk", as you say?

What some forums do is to create fake new members now and again to try and stimulate discussion. Fortunately we are not at that level yet!

Regarding posting latest sightings - well, if you don't like it don't read it?

Hmmmm..... do not stick your head in the sand . You're not an ostrich

[Alf]

Hi Okie,

I hear your concerns and believe me many issues have been discussed over and over again behind the curtains.

We understand that there are thousands of people on our facebook page but you can only bring a horse to the water, you can’t force him to drink.

It’s up to our current users to try and be active everyday and to try and lure these active facebook members to our forum. We have on numerous times sent these people invites but we need to be more active to keep them here.

[okie]

You cannot force a horse to drink , but you can certainly entice him to drink . Just add a little salt or sweetness , and he will always stick his muzzle in and suck away
In other words , there is always a way - just use you imagination , and act upon it

[Flutterby]

I did actually put a link on our FB page yesterday to our Quizzes forum inviting peeople to join in the fun.

[okie]

FB , good start
Now think about what others to link too

[Lisbeth]

Both Flutterby and Roger have done a sterling job on our facebook page, posting links and other interesting topics, but it does not seem to do the trick.

My visits to Facebook are very sporadic, as it is not my kind of tea and like Ex I do not even have a smartphone, but I do think that it is a bit more complicated to read a forum as the surface is small and often the posts on a forum are much longer than on a social media page and if you zoom in, you can only see a small part, which proves that it must all be easy and fast. One thing that I have never understood is why a lot of clever photographers post their pics on social media; they certainly do not show well being so small