What happened to groups? Why are they all dead?

kshama2001

rileysowner wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Krissy_Loses_It wrote: »

Thank you all so much for the responses. I just felt my experience this time round on MFP would be a little bare without human interaction. Fabulous for calorie counting but I don't want to be lonely as well as hungry 😂 I was just looking to make some friends on here. It's a shame it's changed so much over time. It seems from the comments that unfortunately the changes don't seem to be helpful to anyone.

I don't really think it's so much the changes that MFP has made (they've actually been fairly minimal) as it is that this type of forum format does not really compute with Gen Z and younger. They look at something like this as dinosaur social media. Some people have mentioned migration to FB groups and whatnot, which again...that's probably Gen X and older...I'm Gen X and can't remember the last time I was on FB and I don't really know any millennials or Gen Z that are active on FB...like my Gen Alpha 13 year old says, FB is for Grandmas and Grandpas but I have to have it just to sign up for this thing at school because the people running the school are Grandmas and Grandpas. It's actually pretty hilarious.

With the younger generations, Insta is still pretty hot, but TicTok is far and away their social media playground. Things like FB, Twitter, and Community Forums like this are all dying and will soon go the way of MySpace.

As true as all that is, my Gen Z son is quickly finding that when he wants information on something, the best answers are in forums like this or Reddit. We laughed over that when I mentioned I was searching for some information, and he replied that I likely found it on an online forum in a post almost 10 years old. I laughed and said, "Yes, the post was from 2015.", to which he replied, "All the useful information is found on those old forums." TikTok may be entertaining, but it stinks as an good information source and really seems to dumb down information to the point it is useless. Of course, I am Gen X, so my opinion may be biased, but I find it interesting my N=1 of my Gen Z son seems to indicate even Gen Z can realize that the information they might want in better from other sources. This forum often comes up when I search for nutritional/diet information with Google, and more often than not the information is excellent once you go through all the messages.

Whenever I google information about a book, movie, or TV series, the best answers are invariably on Reddit.

chris_in_cal

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Try it if you have any groups, maybe it helps?

Thanks.

evileyefirefly

I'm with you. Looking to add more friends. Feel free to add me, I also keep my diary open so everyone can see. I'm also doing the Oct-Dec weight loss challenge. Feel free to join me!

MissRevamp

Yes! When I noticed MFP took away the "scan barcode" feature for free, I used a different app for logging but the community wasn't MFP. Or at least what I remembered.

I only started back on this for the community board. It was so great in 2015-2016 I had lost 50 lbs and met the goal. I had chosen "online active" friends that had similar weight loss strategies. Friends were a huge help at that time. Encouragement, past weight loss experiences, understanding, fitness, food ideas, and laughs all made the journey enjoyable.

Community boards had loads of information. Now when I search for certain things, most are are old posts. It's okay. I can learn from history

rileysowner

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

The problem with groups is that you need to actively go into each group to see what's new - you only get notifications for replies on existing threads (if you're indicated that in your settings), not for new topics in groups..

I always use the Recent Discussions to see what's new on the boards, and since groups don't show up there, I automatically forget about the groups I'm a member of.

I just discovered that there's a setting in Community that seems intended to make it send a notification anytime that there's a new post in a group one belongs to. It was off by default. I turned it on. I don't know whether it works because there haven't been new posts yet in my groups other than in threads I've participated in. (The other notification settings do seem to work.)

On the web Community, click on your mini-avi in the upper right corner, then Account and Privacy Settings, then Notification Preferences over in the top right area. Scroll down to the Groups heading, and click next to New posts in groups I'm a member of.

In the web/tablet app (as I see it in Android), it's the same labels to click on, but you'll find them in different places on the screen.

Try it if you have any groups, maybe it helps?

It seems to work. There are not many posts in the groups I am part of, but they did seem to show up under the notification bell icon when I clicked it. Thanks.