Do you feel like the time of the forum is coming to an end? It worries me that the younger generations aren't really finding platforms like this and using them to establish those connections. It is all about the accessibility of social media these days.
I don't believe that forums are coming to an end, rather they are moving to more specialist fields such as customer support. One of the biggest problems regarding forums for the younger generation is that they rely on their mobiles for everything and are unlikely to have access to larger devices, such as laptops and desktops. Forums are not great on mobiles, they're clunking and have far too many menu choices to choose from and different platforms have different ways of displaying these absolutely essential elements.
With social media you have a box to type in and hit post/tweet/or whatever and they're done. It's a momentary fix that lasts seconds and they disappears into a black hole never to be seen again, and that doesn't bother the younger generation, it's what is normal to them.
The great advantage of forums is that there are no black holes - everything is permanent and discoverable. Forums have everything that SM has in terms of features and so much more, but we come back to that interface that is a nightmare to get to grips with on mobiles.
It's a shame too, because this current generation have no idea what they're missing out on. No character limits, can follow content, can find content, can post images and videos, can send personal messages, can use reactions (more than just 'like') can follow others, can have access to loads of content, not just messages and the list can go on and on. However, no matter how much better forums are than SM, they are not mobile friendly in the way mobiles users expect them to be.
I doubt very much that regardless of tweaks to the UX that anything will change to make forums more appealing to mobile users. Statistics show that over 90 percent of the global internet population use a mobile device to go online. It's a hard fact to face but mobiles have literally killed off most other means of connecting to the internet.
The following information snippet is direct from the internet:
Desktops were responsible for 35.7% of all visits in 2020, and tablets drove the remaining 3.3% of visitors. Globally, 68.1% of all website visits in 2020 came from mobile devices—an increase from 63.3% in 2019. Desktops drove 28.9% of visits, while 3.1% of visitors came from tablets.
Personally, I would choose forums over SM any day of the week. I would also very rarely use my mobile to access the internet. 99.99% of my internet time is from a desktop. I came up with a little ditty that I often throw at mobile users - "the bigger the screen, the more can be seen' and more easily to add.
I grew up in the age of the desktop when mobile phones were like bricks and only used for making calls and sending text messages and I'm not about to change screens. I like my 24" desktop monitor and I like to see more in one go rather than having to squint at a tiny screen and spending my life scrolling to see whatever I need to see.
I doubt that anything will change, if you enjoy forums keep them active, otherwise they will go the way of the dinosaur and that will be a very sad day indeed.
