Explore the differences between online communities, forums, portals and knowledge bases
Posted by Janice Scheckter on 14 January 2020, 07:10 CAT
Online Community vs. Forum
Both Forums and Online Community Platforms offer online discussion forums, which provide a place for customers and members to come together, ask or answer questions, voice concerns, and get peer-to-peer support.
However, the bulk of the similarities stop there. The only feature of forum software is discussion forums, while online communities have a host of other features like blogs, resources libraries, and numerous other ways to keep your customers engaged and offer them added value. While online communities tend to be the all-in-one option for customer engagement, forum software only offers the single option of discussion boards (which is sometimes enough).
Though forum software is simpler than an online community platform, it does tend to have a shorter implementation time. Due to this, budgetary restrictions and time constraints may make forum software appealing to organizations that don't need additional features and capabilities.