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Forum Trends: Access By Device (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet) From 2012-2014

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Mike W.

Thousands of users visit our forums every day. Incredibly, about half our traffic is users on a mobile phone or tablet device. The increasing popularity of mobile devices and tablets cannot be denied. In just a few short years, traffic … Read More >

Posted in Forum Architecture & Design | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Pros And Cons Of Facebook Groups Vs. A Hosted Forum Service

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Mike W.

We’ve had several clients switch to a Ninja Post private forum after starting with a Facebook Group. No matter what subject matter, their stories are similar. They started using Facebook Groups because they’re easy to set up but limitations regarding … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , | 1 Comment

3 Reasons Why Country Flags Improve Community Engagement On Your Forum

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Mike W.

We recently implemented a suggestion from our users to insert the national flag for each user’s country of origin next to their user name after they add a post. When several users advised us to implement this feature, we had … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Top 10 Things To Look For In A Forum Hosting Service

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Mike W.

Whether you are considering hosting your forum with your traditional web host or if you’ve migrated to a service that provides forum hosting in the cloud, it’s critical to understand what to look for in a forum hosting service before … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Greatest Thread Topic Of All Time?

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Mike W.

We previously examined some creative ideas to add seed threads to your forum. And once your community is self-propelling and people know each other, it’s still a good idea for site owners to chime in from time to time. If … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

3 Strategies To Test Your Forum Community Concept

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Mike W.

Assuming you have enough traffic to make a forum viable, what steps can a webmaster take to test their concept prior to investing too much time or money into a new forum? After all, galvanizing users to contribute to your … Read More >

Posted in Marketing Your Forum | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

3 Types Of Badges To Gamify Your Forum Community

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Mike W.

When it comes to forums and gamification we prefer to keep things simple. Allowing users to give out reps to other users for adding valuable content is the best example of forum gamification because we want to reward constructive contributions … Read More >

Posted in Forum Architecture & Design | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A User’s First Contribution To Your Forum

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Mike W.

Last week we examined 8 Reasons Why People Don’t Contribute To Your Forum. Of course, that research prompts an obvious follow-up question: what steps should you take to increase participation? Readers of this blog know that one of the things … Read More >

Posted in Marketing Your Forum | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

8 Reasons Why People Don’t Contribute To Your Forum

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Mike W.

Most forums fail because they don’t get enough traffic. We call this the critical mass problem. However, some forums have lots of traffic and still fail. Other forums have lots of traffic and simply underperform. We identified eight factors that … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment