Community Building & IM Services

Should Forum Display Alternate Means to Talk?

[rogerd]

Forum software can now often display the IM services a user has available - Yahoo, AOL, etc. But is this good?

On one hand, you are offering your visitors reasons to ignore your forum by having multiple chats going, etc.

OTOH, by making this communication easier, you may boost your forum's use as a permanent hangout for your target population and gain advantage over forums that don't offer it.

I've got one busy forum frequented by users of teen years and beyond, with a hefty late-teen population. These users are IMing constantly anyway, so I'm not sure that facilitating it would negatively impact the forum quality or traffic.

Any other pros & cons and/or salient commentary?

[Nick_W]

I'd go with it Roger but why not encourage them to use a 'stickymail' system instead/aswell?

Nick

[Jenstar]

I agree, sticky messages (also known as private messages) are the way to go with forums. You would be amazed at the number of people who use private messages, simply because they are quick and easy, as well as for those who might not want to give out their email addresses.

My forums all allow users to display their various IMs, but for me, I don't use that feature on a forum and only give my IM addresses out to people I want to ;)

You could also offer a general chat room for members as well - this can also go a long way to keeping people on the site, and keeping them returning as well.

[Nick_W]

IM's also have a different feel.

I experimented last year with ICQ but I found, no matter how hard I tried that it was just toooo social for me. I can't handle the fact that there are msg's wainting to be answered but have no touble putting off a sticky for a day or two.... weird!

Nick

[rogerd]

I'm offering sticky-mail PMs as well, but IMs are more interactive. Many users won't have IM services or won't disclose their IDs for privacy reasons, so I'm not overly worried.