is facebook destroying community forums?

[artfuldodger]

hi guys
i have had my modified car club running since 2007 and found that facebook is destroying the many car clubs here in the uk.
i bet it's the same all over the world. i have seen many of my members use facebook day in day out joining pointless groups and fan pages.
my site used to be busy every day but ever since this social network came online it has opened up a huge can of worms allowing any one to open up an account...even murders, rapists you name it it's on there. i'm disgusted that my members would rather use a dismal and shameful social network that has no morals. i have now taken drastic action towards my members who use facebook without useing my site....my rules are quite simple....use facebook but also use my car club if they do not post at least 5 times a week i limit or freez their accounts plus punnish them when we go to car events by putting them at the back of the car club stand and having the most active members cars at the front to show off their cars to the public. they do not pay for registration so i expect some loyalty.

[zuriatman]

You cant have all the people all of the time. Some people just want to be noticed and Facebook is a good platform for this purpose. They just want to be out in the open so the entire planet get to know who they are; but the Million Dollar Question is: DOES THE PLANET CARE for this people who spend their time "Talking Sweet Nothing" night after night???????????

What you said may be correct! But by saying it "this social network came online it has opened up a huge can of worms allowing any one to open up an account...even murders, rapists you name it it's on there." you sounded more like a sore loser than being right.

I only use Facebook to check on my "underage children, nieces and nephews" who are members. Incognito so they will not be intimidated by my presence.

If you say I am spying; the answer is I am not. I am just keeping a watchful eye on them and spot the perverts and predators which they are unable to spot themselves due to their innocence and being naive.

[Collectors-info]

You got to be going the shortest route to antagonising & loosing members. You cant tell pepole what to do & where they can talk.
The only way round this is to offer a better service with more facility's & look at why they are using other sites.

[artfuldodger]

i'm not being antagonising i'm putting over a fact........that what is the point of joining a car club then joining facebook then asking me on facebook what going on on the site?. why ask why not log in and look instead i see be a fan of an egg? and one of the worst fan page i have ever seen but will not state it on here because of it disgusting nature that people join that fan page and some was my members. i had no choice but to delete their account as for joining such a disgusting fan page was beyond me. i think facebook need to clamp down on these so called fan pages and groups that are moraly wrong and to delete them but they do not. facebook has it's good points but allowing these pages that cause serious distress to people is still a hard thing to get my head round.

[zuriatman]

i'm not being antagonising i'm putting over a fact........that what is the point of joining a car club then joining facebook then asking me on facebook what going on on the site?. why ask why not log in and look instead i see be a fan of an egg? and one of the worst fan page i have ever seen but will not state it on here because of it disgusting nature that people join that fan page and some was my members. i had no choice but to delete their account as for joining such a disgusting fan page was beyond me. i think facebook need to clamp down on these so called fan pages and groups that are moraly wrong and to delete them but they do not. facebook has it's good points but allowing these pages that cause serious distress to people is still a hard thing to get my head round.

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Keep it up and you will eventually lose all your members!

[DarrenC]

You are going to alienate all your members. Facebook is a great marketing opportunity why not use it to maximise and promote your own forum. The owners of these boards are active with both Facebook & Twitter to further interact with their customers. If I am interested in what they post I'll flick back to this forum. They've achieved their objective.

Slightly off topic but relevent. I used to sell items on Ebay not because I'm a huge fan of Ebay but because of the traffic sent back to my Primary Website. My business grew!!

My point is, if you know where your customers or members are hanging out, target them there. You will reap the benefits in the long run.

[artfuldodger]

ok some good advise let's see how things go. thanks for all the comments