Forum Software vs. Facebook Group

[Shawn Gossman]

Why would you choose forum software over a Facebook group to run your free online community?

Forum software is typically free or inexpensive. You get full control over the software and the database giving you a sense of ownership. However, forum software is often considered outdated and not up to modern feature standards when comparing it to a social network.

It's harder to get members to join a forum versus them engaging on social media.

A Facebook group is free. It's on a platform that has billions of users ready to join your community if you promote it right. But it's rented space and you can lose your group at any time for no reason at all according to the terms of Facebook.

It is however a lot easier to grow a Facebook group than a forum.

A forum I once had took me 5 years and the financial acquisition of my competition in order to get 10,000 members. My most active Facebook group gained around 40,000 members in 5 years with absolutely no money spent on advertising or promotion. In fact, Facebook recognized my group's growth and got me a segment on the local news to help grow it more.

So, with that being said, which would you choose and why?

 

[B.F]

What I notice with Facebook groups they either get taken away from you when you reach a certain limit or gets shutdown when to many communication come through your group.

On the other hand forums you have more control over and most free forum open source software are secure straight out the box.

 

[Cpvr]

What I notice with Facebook groups they either get taken away from you when you reach a certain limit or gets shutdown when to many communication come through your group.

On the other hand forums you have more control over and most free forum open source software are secure straight out the box.

Which ones? I’m apart of a few fb groups that have over 500k members. They’re doing quite well. You can also utilize facebook groups to promote your page and network.

It’s also nice when you’re able to market your forum on a group.

 

[Tracy]

So, with that being said, which would you choose and why?

For my main interest sites... FarceBook and most of the other social based sites cannot offer what I can from my script.
And I do realize I am the weird bird of the group. I really don't care if I get users joining and participating or not. Yes, it would be nice, but my site was originally set up as a place for my participation and if others wanted to jump into the pool they could. It was targeted at being a resource locator.. and it has succeeded in that aspect even if most of the resources are generated by me.

I do participate in some FB groups and such... and do post links to related material on my site. It does generate traffic related to data consumption, but not a lot of participation. I think that has more to do with the difference in the "flow" of how FB and other social media apps work with a centralized login compared to the onboarding process of the forum scripts, which in many ways are a PITA to have to do multiple times for multiple sites.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Facebook is definitely rented space but if you play by their rules and be firm on moderation, your group is not under any threat of being shut down. I have multiple groups with thousands of members on them, and they do just fine.

But it is rented space. I can lose them any time.

Forums on the other hand are not rented but they cost me money to maintain. If I'm not monetizing my forums (which I'm not) then I just pay and that's it. If you have the money and enjoy the hobby, that is great.

If you don't have the money but you still want a community, Facebook groups might be for you.