Which of the social sharing features on the site do you use?

[Brogan]

As you are aware, there is the ability to share threads and pages from the site on Facebook, Twitter and Google.

These features however utilise extra resources and can contribute to page loading delays.

So just to get an idea of how widely they're used, please can you vote in the poll?
Multiple choices are permitted.

If they're not really used then they can be disabled which will make the site faster overall.

Of course, if they are being used then we'll hang on to them.

 

[Jen]

Facebook and twitter - although I am yet to say anything on twitter!

 

[sportsman]

I don't use any of them.

 

[MCLS]

Twitter.... sometimes Facebook.

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Facebook.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

The whole lot.....my life would have a lot more spare time in it without the 3 above services.

 

[Speshal]

Bookface

 

[tooncheese]

I use Facebook a fair bit, but haven't used the share feature on this site or any other. If I knew other people interested in F1 then I probably wouldn't be on a forum. I've seen that disgusted look they give me as I tell them...( Not actually this, but something to this alienating effect.) about Servo-Gavin using the four wheel drive Matra MS84 at the three North American rounds of 1969 scoring 1 point in Canada the only occasion a four-wheel drive car has done so, trumping the best efforts of John Miles in the Lotus 63. I know they aren't that interested.

 

[Fenderman]

Call me ignorant, antisocial or anything you like but I detest these blipvert so called social networks. If I wanted to dumb down my vocabulary and communicate in one liners with words of but a single short syllable I would get myself a lobotomy. The joy of this forum is that conversation can be as real and complex as one has the ability to make it without losing the ability to say a whole sentence with a single smiley ... if that is what one choses to do. Whilst we may attract followers here, unlike Facebook they're not claiming to love you because they've seen your photo on your profile and want you to cross the planet in the forlorn hope that you'll help them have babies (as desirable as that may perhaps turn out to be).

Having said all that, I would not want to deprive those who like those mediums from being able to enjoy the facilities, since it is the failure of those mediums to provide meaningful platforms rather than any fault or on the part of their membership/users. Generally speaking, the slow pace of my own ICT equipment is more of an issue for me and I find navigation on this site is usually fairly quick. Yes, there are the occasional hold-ups but so long as I know why then I'm happy. An occasional look to see how many members and visitors are on line gives me an indication of how responsive the site will be to navigation and posting, etc. so my vote (none) merely indicates my usage rather than a "vote against" the facility.

 

[Brogan]

I think perhaps some explanation of what they do may be prudent.

The purpose of them is to expose the site to others.
In that respect they are excellent for generating traffic and new members.

One Tweet can result in thousands of visitors, if it is retweeted by others.

One link on a Facebook page can similarly make hundreds or thousands of users aware of the site.

The Google +1 button is related to searching and the more it is clicked, the higher up the results the pages will be, compared to other similar pages. As we all know, most people tend to click the top few results and ignore the rest.

So rather than being useless or worthless features, they do in fact perform a very valuable function.

 

[sportsman]

I can clearly see the point of them Bro., but I never use any of the social networking sites at all.Unless you include windows messenger or skype which are all I use.
The other point I would like to make is although we have a vast membership now on CTA we have very few active members.
I joined CTA for the following reasons.
1 It did not have a large membership.
2 The active members were very knowledgable and the qualtity of the posters (especially their spelling and vocabulary ) was of a very high standard.
I do belong to other forums but very rarely do I ever participate in the threads. I don't intend this post as a rant it is merely to explain my vote above.

 

[Brogan]

I'm not suggesting anyone who doesn't use them should, just trying to get an idea of how widely they're used now.

we have very few active members.

If that doesn't change then the site will stagnate and die.

It's a proven fact that sites with low numbers of active members eventually close, as less and less people post due to there being less and less people posting.
It's a self-fulfilling cycle.

For three years now we've been struggling to break through the invisible barrier without much success.
I'm not sure I can afford to spend another three years treading water, only for it all to ultimately be pointless.

 

[AlexM]

I've used the Facebook function a couple of times, but I'm doubtful anyone from my friends list has ever clicked any of the links. I'll try and use them all a bit more in future!

 

[sportsman]

If that doesn't change then the site will stagnate and die.

It's a proven fact that sites with low numbers of active members eventually close, as less and less people post due to there being less and less people posting.
It's a self-fulfilling cycle.

For three years now we've been struggling to break through the invisible barrier without much success.
I'm not sure I can afford to spend another three years treading water, only for it all to ultimately be pointless.

I am very aware of that fact Bro.But its the age old question with forums.How do you encourage esisting members to participate.
CTA has a range of topics to suit almost any type of racing fan with the exception of bikes.Series such as MotoGP, BTCC, WTCC, NASCAR all have their own dedicated forums.
My particular interest is as you know sidecar racing.So I belong to a dedicated sidecar racing site.
The fact is that there are more F1 orientated forums than any other.Pushing existing members to post by generating topics is being actively pursued by several members but the taper out soon after the active members have responded.
My post was not criticism.It was an explanation.

 

[Brogan]

My post was not criticism.It was an explanation.

As was mine.

There's no disguising the fact that only about 2-3% of the member base is active.
Before long that will drop to 1-2%.
And then 0-1%...

Think of it as a high street shop.
If the number of people buying goods drops to single figures, even though there are hundreds of window shoppers, it's not worth keeping the shop open.

 

[Brogan]

Just as a comparison, here are some stat's of how another XenForo site is shared by the members.

This is the main forum page:

This is a thread:

Anyway, this is getting away from the topic somewhat.
This is just to get some feedback on the social sharing features and which of them can be disabled, if any.

 

[Slyboogy]

Never heard of this Google one anyone want to tell me what it's about?...I have Facebook (for a few reasons) but I despise it.

 

[Brogan]

http://www.google.com/+1/button/

 

[Slyboogy]

Oh god that's exactly what we just need....

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I'm not suggesting anyone who doesn't use them should, just trying to get an idea of how widely they're used now.

If that doesn't change then the site will stagnate and die.

It's a proven fact that sites with low numbers of active members eventually close, as less and less people post due to there being less and less people posting.
It's a self-fulfilling cycle.

For three years now we've been struggling to break through the invisible barrier without much success.
I'm not sure I can afford to spend another three years treading water, only for it all to ultimately be pointless.

Bro. Private message me if you want some advice on optimising features, increasing traffic and monetising the site better. I do this for a living at a very high level.