Did your friends support you?

[Jason5]

Did you friends support you when you start running a forum or website? If so how did you make them interested in your project?

I started a regional forum and i requested few friends of mine to join in. But none have joined in, expect one brother (who is actively posting)

 

[2dub]

When I decided to start my own forum, I had made some friends on the prior leading forum in my niche. They all had excellent reputations at the other site. I told them I was planning on starting my own forum. They were supportive, but only a couple made the initial dive with me. So I had a forum with 1 admin and 2-3 mods and no members. It started to slowly grow and the rest joined.

I also asked a number of people I knew IRL to join. Only 1 did initially. That sort of hurt my feelings.

My point being find people who are active on forums to help build your site. Forums aren't for everyone. I believe active forum users will be best at seeding your site to where it will start to grow organically

 

[Jason5]

Do you think this scenario would have been different if it was 5 or 6 years ago? As social media was not on peak, our friends would have joined us?

 

[Bluefish]

Friends and active forum members passionate about doing so are not necessarily the same. Right now the two most active members of my forum are not what I would consider "friends." Both of them are opinionated and disagree with each other on everything, so they sort of keep each other going. Unfortunately, neither is productive to the purpose of my site. They do excel in keeping it looking somewhat active, but frankly, I think many people have been discouraged about participating because of them.

 

[Joel R]

Did you friends support you when you start running a forum or website? If so how did you make them interested in your project?

I started a regional forum and i requested few friends of mine to join in. But none have joined in, expect one brother (who is actively posting)

I'm going to ask you the same question that I ask every other forum owner struggling with new users:

What valuable, unique content do you offer?

Your friends are no different than any other user. They need a compelling reason to visit. If you're a regional forum, do you offer a calendar of events that no one else offers? Do you offer a directory of local business reviews that no one else offers? Do you offer a map of regional hotspots? And do you do this better than, more comprehensively, or with more detail than other platforms?

 

[Lisa]

Sometimes real-life friends are the worst people to have on your forum. There can be a sense of entitlement and the belief that they are untouchable and can behave how they please because they know you.

With that said as Joel R asks - what do you offer? People arriving at your site need a reason to stay. Are you offering such a thing?

 

[Bluefish]

I'm going to ask you the same question that I ask every other forum owner struggling with new users:

What valuable, unique content do you offer?

Your friends are no different than any other user. They need a compelling reason to visit. If you're a regional forum, do you offer a calendar of events that no one else offers? Do you offer a directory of local business reviews that no one else offers? Do you offer a map of regional hotspots? And do you do this better than, more comprehensively, or with more detail than other platforms?

Good points. If many of you are like me, we preceded "social media" as we know it today. My forum was the social media point for my community (geographically). As Facebook and others began to replace the things my forum offered people decided to use the other means that duplicated what they already used. Reminds me of Walmart moving into small communities and decimating the mom and pop stores.

 

[overcast]

Apart from registration, I don't remember many friends or family helped with forum or blogs I made in the past.