Forum traffic is up 45%, but participation is down

I'm beginning to more actively promote these discussion forums.  Readership is actually up (as measured by both an increase in the number of unique visitors and the average time spent on the discussion forums).  Despite that, participation (defined as someone who posts a message) is down.

I recently wrote a Blog post which includes information about this fact, as well as information about some of the more popular Blog posts that Google sends here through organic search.

Of course, I could have simply posted the information here, but I did not want to duplicate the content and the Blog posts are circulated differently.

I believe it is pretty clear that social media has replaced discussion forums for those who were active online.  I don't view any of the popular social media platforms as a replacement for what is here or any similiar forum.  

As platforms like SnapChat emerge in popularity and take over, I'll pass adopting this in big way.  I'll poke my head in just to remain current. But these platforms don't interest me, and the trying to exploit them for marketing reasons is a waste of my time and energy.  So I'll "stay in my lane" and hang out on websites.

"Follow me" on the web.