Are web forums going to die?

Forums won't die. Social Networks can't replace EVERYTHING.
Forums, Blogs, all these will stay.
For some of us, a Blog or Forum is better than a Facebook page because we have complete control.

A forums survival has nothing to do with backlinks.

 

I think starting a new one would be hard, but the established ones like this one likely won't.

 

That has always been the case, it is not just now.

 

Web forums will eventually die in the long run. it is evident that few people nowadays use the forums. in fact the upcoming generation dont know anything about forums. they know Facebook , tweeter and others social media. If you have a question you will always find answers in google.

 

This! If you start a forum with a niche target and have a reasonable amount of knowledge to share regarding the topic, you have a good chance of succeeding. The more focused the niche the better the chances for success. I would agree that the days of "build it and they will come" are definitely over.

 

Owning your own forum is the way to go to drive traffic to it using social media. If you control your domain you're less likely to lose all your promotion by a rule change.

Rick

 

they will live forever i think. yes, there is alot of easier scripts where you dont need to register to see full content, afraid of ban or something third, but most quality conversations and advices can be found at forums, like this one....

 

I don't think so, but I will say they have slowed down a lot!

 

As mentioned quality is key. There's way to many Facebook pages that abuse the hell out of their fan base/likes/followers = ultimately decreasing interaction return and making the page a dud and this is a trap a lot of pages fall in to which leads to no conversions (if that's what your looking for). In addition, I was recently reading a new SEO release-the author was mentioning how blogs are getting better for back-links due to their juice which puts a smile on anyone's face with a high quality and PR blog

 

you are definitely wrong.
Forums are now popular and will be for a long time. population on earth is still rapidly growing, so no worries. people have still some issues, questions and need help.

Building "forum on facebook" is not a good idea, you will be limited regardless of monetizing in future. When you have your own forum you are free and can manage and monetize in many ways...

All is about good and interesting threads and content, and of course traffic, then it will grow "without any job"

 

The thing is, people have their own preferences.
If you think forums will die because most of the people are into social media, there are surely some (like the ones here) that still use other platforms like this forum; or both.
On the other hand, the question is overused, I've seen a lot of it like:
SEO is dead
Is email marketing dead
Internet is going to die soon.. bla, blah, blah.. etc etc.

 

No, forums definitely won't die, because people are in constant need of answers to their questions and forums provide this better than any other form of discussion on the internet.

 

Forums will always be around. Think about it, how do people usually react when a country, city or town says to them, "we are thinking about tearing this old building from 1776 to the ground" and the people always shout back, "No we want our historical building because it represents our history, our humanity, and our identity!" History has never changed, people's values can sometimes change, but their beliefs remain the same.

 

Forums are different enough from places like Facebook that I don't see them going anywhere. I do think that many of the smaller ones will die off due to inabilities of their owners to make needed changes to keep up with the times. The big forum sites that have been around are growing, changing and evolving to help stay competitive.

Would it be hard to start a new forum? Yes, if you try to spread yourself too thin and don't do everything needed to thrive.

The thing is that forums (to me) feel a little less fake, as far as people tend to interact better and since you aren't plastered with "Here's a pic of me eating at Burger King" and other useless status or whatever updates/posts/Spam.

 

I agree with you. It is difficult to establish a web forum but not impossible.
You have to work hard. If you can offer top quality information and help, it is still possible.