Ideas for dealing with competition from Facebook groups
May 26, 2020 13:47:58 GMT -8
kellijaebaeli likes this
Post by branjita on May 26, 2020 13:47:58 GMT -8
Forum URL: dragonballfigures.boards.net and the custom domain www.dragonballfigures.com
Getting people to join and post on my forum is harder each year. I do get several new registrations a week, but these people are primarily making accounts to consume information only viewable by logged in members. Many of these people have IP addresses in countries where English is not the native language. They aren't joining to post and interact, they are joining to see Checklists and such.
Hi, I don't know if this is the correct location for such a discussion, but I have been wanting to talk about this...
Has ProBoards thought of a way of competing with Facebook groups a bit more/better?
Situation overview:
It is undeniable that Facebook groups (the past 4 or 5 years) have slowly reduced traffic to my forum and greatly reduced posting on my forum. The loss of Photobucket as a free image host, the existence of Reddit, and reduction in people using computers to interact with sites have hurt forums as well, but Facebook groups have been the number 1 competitor for sites like mine. Facebook groups centered on the subject matter my forum is based on have really gained popularity even to the extent that I participate in them daily. The fact that Facebook groups are rotten for organizing/categorizing and archiving discussion in an easy manner to look back at later doesn't seem to matter to most users, as it is soooo darn easy to interact in these groups via your phone. As a result, these groups have turned my forum into a historical or categorical reference source for many people... instead of a source to actually have discussions... as intended... and as it had been historically.
Current issues reducing posting and interaction:
--Images--
The ease of uploading images on Facebook is one reason my forum has reduced activity. I do have Cloudinary on my forum, which is absolutely FANTASTIC for easy image and video hosting on computer and mobile devices, but it requires each member to set it up for themselves, and not many users have gone through the ordeal.
--SSL certificates--
I don't know when my forum finally became an https site, but this is brand new news to me today. Was this recent?? In January, a moderator on my forum was asking me if I was ever going to get an SSL certificate to prevent google's search engine from penalizing DBF for not having one. I see it has one now. 
That's a shock. However, this fact has not changed what Chrome users see when they visit DBF. They see "Not secure". I have no idea how to fix that.
That's a shock. However, this fact has not changed what Chrome users see when they visit DBF. They see "Not secure". I have no idea how to fix that. --Consumerist mentality--
Getting people to join and post on my forum is harder each year. I do get several new registrations a week, but these people are primarily making accounts to consume information only viewable by logged in members. Many of these people have IP addresses in countries where English is not the native language. They aren't joining to post and interact, they are joining to see Checklists and such.
--The mobile website--
I haven't looked at my site's analytics in forever, but it's painfully (and I use "painfully" because this hurts me...) obvious most people use their phones for the sort of activities we all used to use our computers for.
Everyone has a phone, and nobody is going to get in trouble by being on Facebook or any ProBoards forums on their phone while at work, while they very well can get in trouble being on these sites on their work computers. The mobile website that ProBoards provides needs a lot of work in my honest opinion. It doesn't appear (to me) like it has changed since 2013 when I first started my forum. And... to be honest... back then, I spent (if I remember right) 37 hours reprogramming the "desktop" version of the forum to be responsive and not handicap mobile users, because I didn't like how basic it was back then... 7 years ago. When I first started the forum, it was easy to encourage users to adopt my responsive "desktop" version on their phones, but now, it's not happening, as there are too many other things to read on the site. I cannot "force" mobile users to use the "desktop version" of the site on their phones, so they are stuck with something that looks quite basic, with limited functionality.
Note: My responsive version is hardly without a flaw.... I've been unsuccessful in getting Samsung Galaxy phones to actually display the proper media query due to how high res their screens are.
--Apps--
I can't speak for everyone, but 7 years ago, I loved the ProBoards app and it was my preferred, fast way of looking at and responding to threads on my Samsung Galaxy S3. When that stopped working properly, I switched to Tapatalk after the ordeal of trying to get it set up. Eventually (if I remember right), I had no idea what my "Tapatalk" password was (didn't realize I even had one), and couldn't figure out how to get back on my forum, so I gave up using the app. By then, I discovered the "desktop" version of my forum didn't have any particular performance lags on my old Galaxy S6... or my current Galaxy S9... so it's what I have used since then. TLDR: Tapatalk is kind of a pain, and adds a hoop to jump through.
Suggestions for areas of possible improvement:
--The mobile website--
Are there plans to improve/update this in the near future? I hope so. I wish there was a setting to disable it, so the desktop version I programmed to be responsive would automatically load on user's phones instead. Please don't take this the wrong way, but the basic design of the mobile website "gets the job done," but it's not what users expect these days, and users are using better, more capable phones these days than they were in 2013. Not even being able to have the site logo at the top... or custom fonts... or any of the features that actually make the forum branded and recognizable is disappointing to me.
Are there plans to improve/update this in the near future? I hope so. I wish there was a setting to disable it, so the desktop version I programmed to be responsive would automatically load on user's phones instead. Please don't take this the wrong way, but the basic design of the mobile website "gets the job done," but it's not what users expect these days, and users are using better, more capable phones these days than they were in 2013. Not even being able to have the site logo at the top... or custom fonts... or any of the features that actually make the forum branded and recognizable is disappointing to me.
A benefit to ProBoards could be the display of ads on this. I don't know if it's just my phone, but the default mobile version of DBF doesn't show any ads. If I view the desktop mode, I see ads. I assume ProBoards is sustained by advertisements, so it would be good if mobile users were served these ads to help fund ProBoards.
--Making it easier for people to login--
Has ProBoards thought of implementing a way to simplify or expedite user logins by allowing Facebook or Google account logins? This is sooooo out of my realm, that I don't know the technical problems that likely exist. But it would be fantastic if people could link their Facebook or Google account to their ProBoards account after registering a ProBoards account. That way they could use it as a backup way of logging in. I don't allow users to have more than one account on DBF, so I check IP addresses for new users. And there are so many that have forgotten their password over the years, and thus, decided to create a new login... which I'd immediately disable and PM instructions for recovering their old account. Having a way to login via their Facebook or Google account might help them.
It would also be helpful if the login screen looked more official than it does. I wish the DBF logo would be on there, instead of "DragonBall Figures Toys Figuarts Collectibles Forum Dragon Ball Figures DB DBZ DBGT
dragonballfigures.com" written in big, yellow Trebuchet MS letters.
dragonballfigures.com" written in big, yellow Trebuchet MS letters.
--Image hosting--
Like I said earlier, I absolutely love using Cloudinary (for free!!) to allow me to upload images and videos to DBF from my phone or PC super easily. However, I have no clue how to provide all members that sort of thing. I wish ProBoards could set it up so admins could set up a Cloudinary account for the entire forum to use. Every competitor that steals traffic from ProBoards forums (Facebook, Instagram, etc) offers free image hosting, and without it, ProBoards forums like mine are getting left in the dust. I don't earn any money from DBF, just spend it on domain and hosting, so paying for storage via ProBoards just isn't competitive or sensible for me.
--Translations--
Is there a way that ProBoards could allow users to select their language, and have all pages of forums translated to that language? I have members from all over the world, but only English is used on DBF. It would be fantastic if something was integrates to...
1) translate all threads to other common languages
2) translate replies to English for the users who want to type in Spanish, Chinese, Portugeuse, etc.
Anyway... I had a lot on my mind, and hope that this can stimulate some discussion.
