Quite a remarkable headline don’t you think? But, having trawled through dozens of unofficial Manchester City forums, blogs and the like I have to say my research is startling to say the least.
During this article I will NOT mention any forum / site name and if I can help it I will try and avoid insinuating or pointing my finger at any one site. In addition, I will not make a leading statement about which site is better than any other.
Forums
On the 29 March 2011 one site administrator told their members they were seriously thinking about closing the forums down as the level of activity had almost come to a standstill. The plea was basically post a comment and support us or we close.
There are other forums which haven’t had a post in weeks, if not months. And then there are others who seem to survive on a small handful of hardcore and loyal members. Of course it’s not all doom and gloom as there is one City site which on average has around 500 registered members online throughout the peak period. Plus, if there is a huge breaking news story total viewers can easily reach four figures.
Have we spread ourselves too thin?
Its inevitable the bigger you become the greater risk of in-house fighting there will be. In the end the obvious happens and a splinter group creates their own site. I’ve seen it on at least four separate independent forums, including my very own Vital Manchester City.
Blogs
There were some very well known blogs who began their life with a bang and have now have crashed and in doing so died a slow and miserable death. What a shame especially when there are dozens of creative and innovative City writers out there.
I appreciate there are a small handful of blogs who publish an article every now and again but in the main there can’t be more than half a dozen, if that who manage to keep their blog up to date.
Competition
The Internet is constantly evolving and I have to say since the advent of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook even my own forum stats have began to plummet. Now I’m not saying this is the whole cause but I think they have something to do with it.
The Future
I can envisage fewer unofficial Man City related forums / websites. Yes, some will close down, some will reinvent themselves and other will replace the ones who disappear. However, in the end there will only be a handful which will test the tide of time. Which ones will they be? If I knew that I would be trying my luck at tonight’s National Lottery.
To every unofficial Manchester City network…cheers and good health.
Widget
You may have seen this widget before on other VMC articles. Its in real time and its shows where in the world you are reading this article from. Nothing too scientific but if nothing else I like it! Oh, I forgot to say, the red dots are from previous visitors.
Share this article
