Monday, April 29, 2013

ProBoards Looks To Revive Online Discussion Boards

In the age of social media, are online discussions boards obsolete? Lake Forest-based ProBoards doesn't think so--based on the company's update of its free Internet forum software, ProBoards Version 5. The company said Monday that it is making old social media new again by reinventing online forums, adding such features as single sign-on of users, live search, a new mobile interface, and much more. ProBoards is gambling that users still need and prefer the intimate feel of discussion boards, which tend to include a smaller number of users than the wide net of social networks, and allow enthusiasts around different topics to discuss topics in detail. ProBoards says it gets over 15 million monthly unique visitors viewing more than 200 million pages each month. ProBoards said the new release was four years in the making.