3 Responses to “With the success of Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, are small black websites, blogs and forums still needed?”

1. BaronGreenBack says:

   March 15, 2009 at 08:33

   Well, we do need focussed areas where we can discuss views and opinions on various black issues and/or acheivements, while a blog is ok (I read it all the time) I feel that it should be the front page to a black presence website not the whole of it.

   Please bring back the forums!!

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2. admin says:

   March 15, 2009 at 15:54

   I hear what you are saying Greenback, I really do, in fact I’m looking towards the solution. I personally feel frustrated at the moment because I have managed to REBUILD and I mean RE-build this site practically from nothing. This site used to get thousands of hits per day but most of the traffic was driven away by relentless Russian Spammers. Even using a team of myself and 3 moderators, all unpaid I might add..we couldn’t keep the forums going because every thread was just hijacked. Thankfully WordPress the engine that runs this blog is brilliant at keeping the spammers out.

   I think there is a way to integrate forums into the blog but I have’t gotten round to looking into it properly yet. The previous version of the site ran as a website with Forums. The forums had easily become the main hub of the site. Nowadays though, the blog is the main page because it keeps the site fresh, the main page changes daily so no disappointments for regular visitors (unless they don’t like the articles of course).

   What I need to do, and hopefully with the help of concious users like yourself is build traffic to this site. The comments section of the blog acts like a forum, but without the spam. Once people get used to tagging their posts properly and adding them into the correct categories We should hopefully have an amazing archive of both factual material and contemporary thought all in one place.

   The reason I’m so frustrated though is that I’m noticing a hell of a lot of black blogs springing up all over the place, this is great but…..finding them is still hard work. furthermore Facebook and Myspace have scooped up huge numbers of the newly web savvy populace and so many of these people aren’t venturing away from FB or MS. So whilst I have found a lot of potential users on FB the Groups facility only serves to keep them politically active and posting within Facebook/Myspace. This has to be bad..because unless you join Facebook…you don’t have access to this material. which is peppered with irrelevant ads and frivolities. also I have my issues with Facebook despite being a member myself. Check out this video. It’s important to have considered what’s said in it.

   httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37wW9CGWyY

   So, I’m keen to wake a lot of people up and get cross-posting going, I’m inviting black bloggers to duplicate their articles here, also I’m working with many FB group owners to duplicate their campaigns and groups here, Why? To open the debate up a bit.

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3. Melvyn says:

   March 15, 2009 at 20:29

   We are not good at working together. We still have a way to go to really understand the benefits of collaborative working. Networking and partnership working remains an anathema an aspitaration… until it becomes a necessity we will play at it rather than embrace it as an essential part of our respective business plans. There are too many individuals and not enough companies with an outward looking perspective.

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