Do you still use the Forums as much as Facebook or Instagram for your PT discussions?

[SSLance]

I was a long time hater of Facebook and finally gave in and have embraced. It is good at keeping up with those you don't see everyday but at the same time you might see some things you can't unsee, you have to filter accordingly or you'll go crazy.

I much prefer a forum for detailed info and interaction, the problem is the ever declining lack of interaction on most message boards. One message board I've been part of for 20 years recently just set up a private group on Facebook and told all its members to go there. It's cheaper, faster, easier to hang with them and traffic in the group is way up again, but it is horrible to find conversations more than a day old and absolutely no organization at all.

In short Facebook is great for visiting with others but horrible at what forums do best.

I'm 50 and have been message board active in many groups for over 20 years.

[ironworks]

I don't interact on the forums as much. I think its very niche marketing that can work but there is whole other HUGE world out there. I want to quit Facebook every week it seems but it is a necessary evil. I enjoy Instagram much more. You don't have to see what everyone you follow interacts with. Just what you wanna see.

I go thru forums and think Photobucket ruined the forums. I almost refuse to resign up with another company and its just easier to host my own pictures on my shop website. And the stuff I build for myself now days I just keep to my self.

This world is going the way of the mobile phone for everything. Its only going to get worse.

[Josh@Ridetech]

I'm a forum guy. If I'm looking for info on a specific part, I like being able to search and find that topic quickly. It seems as if there is more spot on knowledge on the forums as well. Seeing the person's post count and how the other members react to their posts lets me judge how much (or little) I trust that person's opinion. I'm not saying there aren't people on other social media sites that know what they're doing, I just get the more 1 on 1 feel from forums.

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by DBasher

I like the forum better, I'm able to track conversations and builds without a lot of searching...better interaction. I have FB and I think 89 friends, some of those are shops and the rest are real friends that I have their numbers in my phone...I don't get the huge amount of "friends" unless you're promoting a business. Heck, I have friends (bad influences) on here that aren't FB friends and we're communicating mostly by text.

Todd, if you've got people dropping a deuce on your lawn every morning I'd suggest getting off FB or doing a real good housekeeping. It can be a decent place for communicating if you empty the trash.

I've cleaned house many times. I guess it comes down to the fact that I have little desire to know what people are doing every waking hour of their lives. All the news has a way of filtering back in or being shared as well. I think it's really bad for society from the negative news to the vast amount of comparison that comes natural. It's really a genius idea as humans naturally want validation which is a like on Facebook. Not to mention being able to nose into others lives.

With that being said, I do like to check in on family and close friends once in a while to see what they have been up to. The less time I spend on Facebook, the more I actually feel like CALLING them. Imagine that...

[MCB Matt]

Ok, here is another quick question, do you use the app for the forums or just log in from a phone browser?

I feel the forums are NOT as easy on a mobile device as they are on a desktop.

I have had customers in the past say they prefer email to PM because it's "hard to use"

Traffic is down, you are right. The Facebook groups are growing by the day and more and more groups are being formed. I frequent the CTS-V FB pages and they get a LOT of posts.

Yes, a lot are people giving other people crap... I see that on forums as well, maybe just not as often.

Matt

[dhutton]

You cannot effectively learn or reasearch anything on Facebook etc imho. Fine if you want to shoot the breeze but not much else. I use the forums a lot to learn and/or find solutions.

It’s a shame what Photobucket did to the forums. Karma is a bitch and I hope they go broke in record time. Did that sound like a Facebook post? LOL...

Don

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Agreed with both sides. From a business (and my personal) point of view to make real friends and be involved in the focused community and for the most part get decent reliable information on how to's you can't beat forums.

There are several disadvantages to social media- seeing what someone ate for dinner, all the retarded drama, all the people who run their mouths because they're hiding behind a device, the bad advice and incorrect info, blah blah blah. To market to masses and touch base with lots of folks plus be in touch with the younger crowd though, you can't beat social media. I had a great conversation with Tim King recently, lat-G's "social media" guy and he gets it, there are huge advantages to using it correctly.

Recently I was excited to fit 315s all around on my G-body wagon to help inspire and lead the way for these cars that are becoming more and more popular. I posted here and on another Pro Touring based forum plus 2 of the most popular G body forums. I got probably less than 10 responses of "I like it" nature from general PT fans fairly quick and then it was old news, it's not a big deal these days to see 315s on a car. I also copy and pasted it on about 6 FB G-Body pages, and there it was potentially exposed to over 15,000 people who likely always have FB open on their phones, a week later it's still getting likes, I've had a ton of comments, and several people asking how I did it and what suspension I had etc. Which one did a better job of showing with Speedtech suspension you can fit 315s on a G-Body?

In a nutshell although you have to limit it a bit, when I'm on social media I don't waste time with all the garbage, I just scroll past and get involved with what will help Speedtech or in my personal life what will promote my own car. It's a great marketing tool. When I wanna meet people that I might rub shoulders with at an event or get real advice from those that have gone before, I get on forums.

[Che70velle]

Matt, for question number 2, I always log in on my iPads. I own 4 of them, and there is always one close by. I own a desktop, that I use for my business only, and it does not have access to internet purposely. I have prolly logged in on my iPhone maybe three times ever. It's too small, and I can't see well these days.

As far as the Facebook discussion goes, I don't have an account. I don't want an account. If I want to talk to people I either call or text. For me, it's full of too much drama. I have lots of family that has an account, and they are always talking about how they can't believe this person did this or that, and I always say to them, stop logging back on....

I do follow a few people on instagram, but it's strictly performance automotive related, and I usually find a few minutes a day to check out the posts.

[Ketzer]

I'm very limited on FB.
I do really like IG.
Forums are my go to for anything car related.

[out2kayak]

I used to be on FB, but I closed things out. Yes, it was interesting, but the level of obnoxiousness from people was beyond what I could tolerate. As well, the way the leadership for FB is using the platform was not something that I could support. As such, I voted with my feet.

Never tried IG.

I've been on other social media, but was less than impressed.

I much prefer forums. They have a bit more substance to the conversation and the moderators weed out much of the OT obnoxiousness.

On other forums I'm on, they allow members to host the pictures on the forum. This fixes a big gap - where external image hosting services can at anytime change the terms and break the forum threads value. While it does cost more in terms of compute, network and storage, it ensures the threads (which is the product) viable.

Just a thought.