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What percentage of people do you think use forums ?
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I’ll go out on a limb and estimate 100% of the MR members use or have used this forum. Margin of error is probably +/- 0 so take it with a grain of salt.
Is Facebook even a forum? They have alternately referred to themselves in recent court cases as a Social Media Platform and a Publisher. But it may just be semantics 
I think no. Reddit would’ve been a more apt example.Is Facebook even a forum? They have alternately referred to themselves in recent court cases as a Social Media Platform and a Publisher. But it may just be semantics
Comparing this forum and facebook is like comparing apples to my neighbor's dog.
I was just curious. Since Facebook seems to avoid calling themselves one, if they actually were considered one by most. Reddit I definitely think of as one. This forum of course. Google Groups, etc.
Both Reddit and Facebook are what is traditionally called social networks but both can be used as forums. The definition of both are pretty intertwined IMHO.
Use forums as in looking something up? Or joining and posting?
Or posting regularly.
I’d say MR users are probably less than 0.001% of the general population.
Or posting regularly.
I’d say MR users are probably less than 0.001% of the general population.
Actually, I would guess very very few Apple users do, but mainly because to them the forum hasn't yet been discovered. The other side of the same coin, I bet the ones who have discovered this forum and have learned how to get help here almost always come back... I bet that number is in the 90%'s or higher. I would guess that most people who became members here were originally searching the internet for an immediate problem they had and couldn't find an answer, so they signed up and asked it here... and then the ball was rolling.
Use forums, as distinct from using social media?
There are quite a number of people who view them as pretty much the same thing.
I am not a Facebook expert by any means, but as far as I know Facebook does not have a forum structure like here, but it is a platform for a billion organizations, some controversial, political, community oriented, etc that provide a platform to post comments, have debates/fights, and conduct friendly conversations, just like here.Is Facebook even a forum? They have alternately referred to themselves in recent court cases as a Social Media Platform and a Publisher. But it may just be semantics
Agree. I don’t think I would personally call it a “forum” since it has no real structure and not divided into topics/subjects. Searching/indexing is difficult at best. I have always thought of it as more a “chat room” as some forums, dating back to the Compuserve (and probably earlier) have had over the years.
I agree, but it is almost like having your own personal forum (your home page) when it comes to interactions with family and friends.
None of those demographics comes as a surprise. Mostly where I expected them to be, other than maybe sex. I thought the balance between men and women would be closer.
fo·rum
/ˈfôrəm/
noun
/ˈfôrəm/
noun
- 1.
a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.
"it will be a forum for consumers to exchange their views on medical research"
I would guess that less than 20% of the general internet using public uses a forum like this on a regular basis.
You would lose that bet. Check out the main Forums page, righthand column. The number of guests online at any one time regularly outnumbers members by a factor of 100.
Yes, I'm talking about users of this forum- not members. Though I would think that most members became members in the first place because they needed to post something specific to get the help they need. Most people probably find what they need without posting, which is why so many guests stay guests and not members.
I don’t know many people who chat on forums, or at least any that admit it. My wife takes the mick out of me for posting on here to be honest so I don’t talk about it much with her. If I told my iPhone using friends I contributed here they’d probably be amazed people discuss mobile phones in places like this.
I use forums, so I don't have any real world friends!
I’d say about 2% of the online population. Social media network like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit are where most conversations go to when sites like these submit news articles.
Yeah, 2% sounds about right. As far as traditional discussion forums go, there's most likely more people that are ex-forum members than there are active. You stop posting because you feel alienated by the newer members who are less like the previous regulars or feel like you should start focusing more on your real life. And if you do stick around for a long time, you're probably posting less and lurking more. If you're not getting any (or very negative) reaction to your posts, you're not going to stay very long either.
I've only had one IRL friend who was into them. That's okay.
I've only had one IRL friend who was into them. That's okay.
