View Full Version : Social Media or Forums
Dearth
03-06-2017, 07:55 PM
As the title states which one do you use more of in the hobby to help, read up on, learn about or do you use something else
I personally use the forums a lot as there is a ton of good information on them but social media like FB is becoming more popular but I feel you lose a lot of information on social media
What is your preference
DKoKoMan
03-06-2017, 08:10 PM
It a huge social media fan, so I use the forums for most of my information.
MitchM
03-06-2017, 09:40 PM
I use forums the most, I think they organize information the best.
Forums need to integrate more with Facebook.
SeaHorse_Fanatic
03-06-2017, 11:02 PM
98% forums for my aquatic hobbies. Best source of info. Most of my fish-friends are from BCAquaria & Canreef forums. Most of my best deals are too.
Social media may be good for businesses, but info is hard to find because its not archived in any organized way on a FB page.
intarsiabox
03-06-2017, 11:32 PM
I guess it depends on what your local Facebook pages have to offer. The couple local pages I look at from just one city get more posts in a day than Canreef does in a week. You can use the search function on Facebook Group pages just like any forums but usually people just ask their questions and get fresh answers. I prefer this over asking questions on forums because people don't usually give the typical response of "use the search function" or behave like jackasses because they have a high post count. The buy and sell portion isn't even comparable in my local market. Of course this is just my experience based on my particular location, lots of other places probably don't have much of a local SW following and social media outlets would be fairly useless.
Galizio
03-07-2017, 01:09 AM
Forums are more organized and easy to find stuff in my experience. So forum for me
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
DKoKoMan
03-07-2017, 02:20 AM
The buy and sell portion isn't even comparable in my local market.
Where are you looking? The only group I know of is the Edmonton but & sell. I'm always tying to find local people who have decent priced frags for sale.
corpusse
03-07-2017, 03:22 PM
Social media is taking over buy and sells, especially since there are less restrictions, but message boards imo still provide a lot more value as far as information and documentation (tank journals, breeding logs ect).
The problem with medium sized boards such as this one is staying relevant when there are much larger boards when you are looking for answers as far issues.
Canreef is also non localized although from the outside looking in it's primarily people on the west coast of Canada what is available in AB has no baring on BC, let alone ON or another province. The larger problem may be the business model as these types of message boards are no longer as lucrative as they once were for the owners. Take J&L who recently stopped sponsoring. I see people commenting on how they will lose money but if you've been shopping there for years, you are likely going to continue shopping there regardless of the banner. If new places come up to sponsor sure you may try them out, but unless it's a brand new store it's likely hard to convince them the investment is worthwhile when things have been trending downward for some time. That being said basement shops probably could still take advantage of a forum type situation as you'd be reaching all over Canada (in the case of canreef) vs your local facebook groups.
I've never been a big time poster here, but I have been a member for 10 years and will continue to check it out and as long as there is something to read or look at I will continue to visit.
It could be much worse. Look at AP...
WarDog
03-07-2017, 03:42 PM
It could be much worse. Look at AP...
AP?
Extremely eye opening numbers that frankly, I was not expecting. Hopefully Titus sees this, perhaps it could get the new Canreef here sooner.
MitchM
03-07-2017, 05:28 PM
No offence intended, but Canreef would benefit most with a new owner.
Forums have low costs and need members, Facebook is free, but vendors are difficult to find unless you know what exactly to search for.
Surely there is a way to integrate the two for the benefit of all users.
Dearth
03-10-2017, 07:10 AM
Example of loss of information on Facebook
Tonight One of the FB pages I visit a new person was enquiring about how to scrape the green algae off her tank. Simple enough question but the answers given were about as confusing As it can get. One question 230 replies of which about 2/3rds were about the same answer but contradicting each other.
One person said to use a metal scraper that you can buy at the LFS and within 30 minutes over 50 replies to the scraper answer was answered with use a razor blade, use a plastic scraper, use a putty knife and so on yet nobody actually gave her a good reason why they used so and so item over this item.
Finally thread was shut down and she was still confused fortunately 2 fellow members who live close to her contacted her and gave her the required information about scrapers what to use and not use.
It can happen on forums as well but they tend to be better moderated imo
I think the poll answers would look different if you posted it on Facebook or one of the other options you have in the poll.
I agree that good information gets buried on Facebook. I see that a lot - a simple question with 70+ replies, and 90% of them are either confusing or just atypical. :lol:
intarsiabox
03-10-2017, 01:01 PM
Example of loss of information on Facebook
Tonight One of the FB pages I visit a new person was enquiring about how to scrape the green algae off her tank. Simple enough question but the answers given were about as confusing As it can get. One question 230 replies of which about 2/3rds were about the same answer but contradicting each other.
One person said to use a metal scraper that you can buy at the LFS and within 30 minutes over 50 replies to the scraper answer was answered with use a razor blade, use a plastic scraper, use a putty knife and so on yet nobody actually gave her a good reason why they used so and so item over this item.
Finally thread was shut down and she was still confused fortunately 2 fellow members who live close to her contacted her and gave her the required information about scrapers what to use and not use.
It can happen on forums as well but they tend to be better moderated imo
This is exactly why I never use Reef Central, same thing happens there too. I just stick to local FB forums where questions get answered by maybe a dozen people including a few SW store owners who are also active in the pages. Smaller centers won't have this so have to go on FB pages that include 1000's of people from all around the world were things can be done much differently.
reef-keeper
03-12-2017, 02:19 PM
Forums all the way!! I don't even have a single social media account. P
Dearth
03-12-2017, 03:55 PM
I think the poll answers would look different if you posted it on Facebook or one of the other options you have in the poll.
I agree that good information gets buried on Facebook. I see that a lot - a simple question with 70+ replies, and 90% of them are either confusing or just atypical. :lol:
I posted a poll similar to this one on a large FB group (512 members) so far 43% are forums and 39% are for FB so relatively close
Potatohead
03-12-2017, 11:35 PM
I posted a poll similar to this one on a large FB group (512 members) so far 43% are forums and 39% are for FB so relatively close
Well, you're going to likely get Facebook bias there and forum bias here. With that said I am heavily biased towards forums :mrgreen:
WarDog
03-13-2017, 02:45 AM
Wouldn't it be swell if a forum had all the features of Facebook, or Instagram.... or Tinder!
SeaHorse_Fanatic
03-13-2017, 03:12 AM
Wouldn't it be swell if a forum had all the features of Facebook, or Instagram.... or Tinder!
WarDog,
What's this Tinder you speak of? Your wife asked me to ask you.
Anthony:wink::wink:
DKoKoMan
03-13-2017, 05:16 AM
LOL :onfire:
WarDog
03-13-2017, 05:33 PM
WarDog,
What's this Tinder you speak of? Your wife asked me to ask you.
Anthony:wink::wink:
I was thinking more along the lines of left or right swiping a FTS, but yeah..... no idea what Tinder is.
Dearth
03-13-2017, 08:30 PM
I was thinking more along the lines of left or right swiping a FTS, but yeah..... no idea what Tinder is.
To help you older people out 😈
Wikipedia description of tinder https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinder_(app)
Wouldn't it be swell if a forum had all the features of Facebook, or Instagram.... or Tinder!
I don't think Tinder would work out too "swell" (oh har har har...you said it) here because it would be too much of a...
https://www.cineworld.co.uk/xmedia-cw/repo/feats/posters/HO00003116.jpg
WarDog
03-14-2017, 02:15 AM
Haha. I watched that last week for the first time and I felt dirty afterwards.
I don't think I want to watch it.
WarDog
03-14-2017, 03:21 PM
It's super funny and worth the watch. Just please be advised it is definately NOT for children.
DKoKoMan
03-14-2017, 08:14 PM
Definitely an "R" rated movie LOL.
xandraescape
03-30-2017, 02:18 AM
Sorry for the late feedback as I am new here, but I will definitely agree with the rest of the community. I do prefer forum over social media in terms of gathering and sharing new data. Members of a community like this one usually have the mastery of the subject compared to those who invest their time in social media.
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