A message board or online forum is the digital version of an old fashioned bulletin board. You know those cork bulletin boards, the ones you still see in coffee shops, covered with flyers about yoga classes, apartments for rent and community events? On the Internet, community information sharing happens much more quickly and easily via message boards that become forums for people to post ideas, ask questions and share advice.
Some message boards focus on topics of shared interest such as sports, health, beauty and fitness. iVillage.com, Yahoo, and Craigslist are three Web sites that host message boards covering a variety of broad topics.
Other message boards host more specific discussions. Some of our favorites are: The Emperor’s Star Wars Board for Star Wars fans, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for women with breast cancer, and the Pet Adoption and Rescue for people looking for advice about adopting animals.
The bottom line is that message boards are useful in identifying and engaging with others who share your interests or are knowledgeable about topics you’re looking to learn more about.
Check out this featured blog post on SmartBlog on Social Media written by Patrick O’Keefe, owner of the iFroggy Network and author of the book “Managing Online Forums.” Here he wrote about the 4 simple rules for generating traffic from forums.
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