First and foremost, the reason why forums are so popular is because they are engaging. In a forum, “forumers” are given the maximum real person to people interaction. Unlike Chats or Instant Messaging, a forum can let a person interact with not just one or two persons; in a forum, you can practically let the entire world know about what you think or feel. And what is more beautiful is that there can be anonymity in a forum. Well, being anonymous has its own advantages and disadvantages but let us not dwell on it. The important thing about it is that, in a forum, you can choose to be or not to be anonymous.

Another very nice thing about forums is that they provide participants the feeling of community and kinship with other forum members. Even if at times, you may not know each other, it is comforting to know that you share things in common. In most instances, participants really develop connection; we are not talking about internet connection but a real personal connection. Sometimes, conversations just don’t end up in the forums; others may even correspond in emails and end up talking on the phone. In other words, by participating in a forum, access to companionship, acquaintances, closeness and even relationships, is easy.

Aside from the social interactions happening in forums, there are also forums that are more into the professional side and/or forums that target a specific community such as forums for the marketing community, for the writing community, for oppressed women, for women in general, and even for specific societies and organizations. The same thing goes for this kind of forums; people interact, share ideas, plans, help and support each other and/or simply talk to each other. The only difference is that they mostly talk about a specific topic. For instance, a forum for women only talks about issues that are unique to women such as PMS, menopause, make-up tips, women’s career and the like.

Tags: Internet

Tags: Miscellaneous