"What I see happening is that, particularly for younger users, Facebook is the gateway to the Internet. If folks in the Facebook set have computer problems, they turn to friends for help. If that doesn't work, they don't seem to Google for solutions--they take it in to the Apple Genius bar or something like that. While I would like to think that standalone forums sill have a place, and I definitely agree that they are more appropriate for troubleshooting than Facebook is, the numbers show that standalone forums are dying."
So suppose that stand alone forums in general are dying. Is that irrelevant to stand alone techie or Apple oriented forums? What's the evidence that it is relevant?
What we at FTM ought to be interested in is whether Apple oriented stand alone forums are dying or in bad health. And, of course, some will be for particular reasons. And some have died in the past. And FTM is, though not dying, now in bad health in one respect -- in lacking users.
But one must not generalize from stand alone forums in general to computer/techie, or more particularly, Apple oriented forums. Different stand alone forums deal with different subject matters and have users of different degrees of interest/commitment. Generalization across such differences is dubious generalization.
Key Issue: What are the stats at Apple's own forums -- where most Apple users go for help? Do we know that usage is recently down there?
And it has to be WAY down to reasonably suggest dying or even fragile health.
I would say that if I were told that the usage there was 1/4 down, I would be willing to take the view that Apple single purpose forums show signs of bad health -- but not signs of dying. (Claiming dying with 1/4 down would be gross exaggeration.)
I await stats from Tacit re: the Apple forums and the matter of possible recent decreased usage there.
And if we don't possess that data for the Apple forums, we are, of course, using crystal balls when we claim death or ill health for Apple oriented forums. But then others can use their crystal balls as well -- and theirs will point, no doubt, to a different future. We need some quantitative data -- not conjecture or single person impressions.
I am puzzled by Tacit's remark that: What I see happening is that, particularly for younger users, Facebook is the gateway to the Internet. If folks in the Facebook set have computer problems, they turn to friends for help. If that doesn't work, they don't seem to Google for solutions--they take it in to the Apple Genius bar or something like that.
I grant that Facebook is immense for young people. But turning to friends or Apple stores/including in many towns and cities to Apple accredited service stores is what most Apple users, no matter what their age, have done ever since Apple came into existence. It is NOT a new trend!! One needs to feel competent or have time to spare to use Google or any Apple help forums. Many do not feel competent enough or have time enough to spare. So they turn to friends or stores. Is this trend to friends or stores increasing now as a proportion of Apple users? What's the data for that?
The need for Apple help ought to be increasing now based on the fact that many are now switching from Microsoft or buying Apple as their first techie product because of all the favourable Apple/Steve Jobs hype and the Consumer Reports high praise (at last!) for Apple products. (This is speculation by me. But if Tacit can speculate -- and that is what he is doing -- so can I.)
My view is that Tacit has taken a wrong path -- in one respect only. There is no reason, pending quantitative data to the contrary, to think that techie or Apple stand alone forums in general are dying or are now in poor health -- or will be in the short term.
But there is reason to think that FTM is in bad health. But that is not a generic problem. It is a particular problem. And other small Apple oriented forums may share the same problem. For I'll guess that most of the Apple newbies (and there are lots of them now) are going to the Apple forums.
FTM's problem requires a particular/local solution. I hope it can be found. And advertising of some kind has to be part of that solution
