RHBNCA

[Joey]

Just a random question for anyone who pops their head in, and having also noticed my own posting patterns here & other BBs, but has Facebook, Blogs & Twitter killed of bulletin boards and forums?

[themadone]

No, there are still plenty that get a large amount of traffic/usage.

Plus I don't think the death of this place in particular is the fault of Facebook etc... We had a group on Facebook and it was pretty dead there too. I think the problem is that the old BB was a part of something larger - the SU and it's website - and that gave the BB enough "gravity" to attract traffic and people posting stuff. Where as here...well it's just a forum and the only binding element is that we once used the old SU BB. If that makes any sense at all?

Ultimately the death can be laid at the feet of the SU for scrapping the old site and replacing it with something that I don't think anyone uses unless they really have to. Or at least it seems that is the case given how despite having quite a prominent link to the new forum, it only managed to get 2 posts ever before they decommissioned it.

[OrbitalPete]

What themadone said.

I still use plenty of active BB's. This one suffered its death knell when it was seperated from teh SU site. It removed the only source of new members, and many old members didn't transition to the new board at all as there was a hiatus with no board, or a very flaky board that wasn't reliable.

No ones fault, just a victim of circumstance.

Also, twitter and facebook will never replace bulletin boards; they fulfil totally different roles. In fact, those most vocal about how excellent Twitter is seem to be those who've never used a bulletin board and try to utilise Twitter for tasks much better suited to a BB.

[MorrisseyMarr]

I dunno.

[Joey]

Some valid points there chaps. Remind me to look up the profit & loss accounts for the SU. I'd love to see if BAM delivered on the £10k PA they promised!

[MorrisseyMarr]

I really can't understand the lure of 'Twitter', it looks pants.

[themadone]

It's lure, is it's simplicity.

*prods Joey* Are BAM as full of fail as we'd expect?

[Joey]

Still trying to get the info. I find it hard to believe that such a poorly created and managed site would be visited by anyone to be honest. No info of any kind for students, potential students or anyone on this green earth... IMHO!

[themadone]

The societies/clubs stuff is a big waste of time - they don't even link to their various websites where people can find out what they're about.

[Joey]

Just been told that Kent Uni generated over £70k from their website. I find that figure very hard to believe however its what their web developers claim. They're another "BAM" with promises of cash for clicks & the world!

http://www.kentunion.co.uk/

At first glance I see no reason for this site to make so much dollar. Its not as bad as BAM, but its still pretty bad.

[themadone]

I think that Kent SU site is a vast improvement over BAM. But then I think any of us could manage to knock together a site that looks better than that BAM eyesore.

Is it possible they're including internal website revenue in that - ticket sales and stuff like that?

[OrbitalPete]

I think they must be using some kind of online sales to reach that kind of revenue.

Assuming 10p a visit they'd need the best part of a million visits a year. They have a little over 15k students and there's really not a lot on the site that most students would be interested so we can safely assume they're not even going to be getting 50% of those students on the site regularly.

So assuming there's 5000 students using it (1/3rd of total student body and far far higher penetration than RHUL ever managed) they're generating £35 per user per year. Seems incredibly fanciful to me unless they're buying stuff and including that revenue. I can't find anything on the website being sold though

[Joey]

Well BAM were able to sell their "Snake Oil" to the Holloway Sabbs based on £10k on clicks alone. Had they, or "OnCampus", tried the same technique, I would have seriously questioned their figures.