What happened to groups? Why are they all dead?

Krissy_Loses_It
Krissy_Loses_It Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
Hey. I've just rejoined after a decade and all of the groups seem to have died out. Why is this? I've no idea how to make friends :lol: thanks!

Replies

  • fabgeekmom
    fabgeekmom Posts: 633 Member
    I was on Weight Watchers and really liked Connect, their social media platform. I stopped WW and started MFP because I wanted to track calories and macros.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Social media has evolved pretty significantly in the last decade. Community forums like this are pretty much a dying breed at this point.
  • lesdarts180
    lesdarts180 Posts: 3,061 Member
    Hey, there is a pretty active group that sets up new each month - The Ultimate Accountability group - we're a mixed bunch but we post every day and everyone is welcome, whether you are trying to lose weight, gain weight, improve health and fitness, maintain weight etc.
    I don't know how to link it but you can find links in the "Challenges" section.
  • lesdarts180
    lesdarts180 Posts: 3,061 Member
    I found a link - thanks to our hard-working administrator, @jamcnewman

    We welcome new members at all times during the monthly challenge. Just click join and we’ll welcome you in.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/145331-ultimate-accountability-challenge-september-2023
  • rowridelift
    rowridelift Posts: 4 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    The forums are pretty dead too. I think people have taken discussions to facebook or other places. All forums are having the same problems. Additionally, myfitnesspal makes it really hard to add friends so they've caused the social aspect to die off...and people don't stick around on mfp just in general. I gave up on the "friends" thing here years ago.

    You can plug in to a group challenge in the "Challenges" sub forum, maybe they're more active (?)
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/categories/challenges

    I totally agree with all of this! It's nowhere close to what you remember in terms of groups/interactions/forums, etc... It's not just this forum - it's most.

    There are several different Facebook MFP groups and that's where I think the activity is (mostly).
  • ddsb1111
    ddsb1111 Posts: 871 Member
    I’m fairly new. I downloaded the app a couple of years ago but totally forgot about it. When I started using it recently this is how it’s always been. Shame I didn’t see it in its glory days. If I’m active I feel a sense of the community. If not, then I’m sure it would seem dead to me. But I’m genuinely here to focus on my goals and learn, and I’m definitely getting that out of this forum. I never really understood the adding friends thing. To me interacting on the threads is making friends, being friendly, and getting support. Why doesn’t everyone just do that instead? Adding friends seems like a lot of pressure 😆.
  • Krissy_Loses_It
    Krissy_Loses_It Posts: 5 Member
    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.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    ddsb1111 wrote: »
    I’m fairly new. I downloaded the app a couple of years ago but totally forgot about it. When I started using it recently this is how it’s always been. Shame I didn’t see it in its glory days. If I’m active I feel a sense of the community. If not, then I’m sure it would seem dead to me. But I’m genuinely here to focus on my goals and learn, and I’m definitely getting that out of this forum. I never really understood the adding friends thing. To me interacting on the threads is making friends, being friendly, and getting support. Why doesn’t everyone just do that instead? Adding friends seems like a lot of pressure 😆.

    You've been a great addition - glad you stuck around :smiley:

    I also prefer interacting on the forums rather than my feed.
  • fatimadimayuga1
    fatimadimayuga1 Posts: 2 Member
    hahaha hello friend
  • JessiBelleW
    JessiBelleW Posts: 831 Member
    I’ve moved over to the Reddit forum loseit- it’s as busy /varied topics as mfp used to be 6 years ago or so
  • Winning4EJ
    Winning4EJ Posts: 47 Member
    To me interacting on the threads is making friends, being friendly, and getting support. Why doesn’t everyone just do that instead? Adding friends seems like a lot of pressure 😆. [/quote]

    Good point I'm still trying to figure out what works for me on here and what could maybe encourage me to reach my goals.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    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.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,328 Member
    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.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited September 2023
    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.

    I use TikTok all of the time as a "search engine" and have found lots of great stuff...there's as much bad information on forums like this as there is on any other social media site...I mean this site alone, while having lots of good information is also riddled with pretty *kitten* information and advice, bro-science, and nonsense. Many of us have been around here long enough to know how to sift through it and/or don't really pay attention to it, but plenty is there.

    I'd also wager that your son is an outlier in that regard and/or an elder Z. This community forum doesn't get even remotely the kind of traffic it did 10 years ago. Same with blogs...I was a travel blogger for a bit and it's hard to get traffic because the trend is vlogs and YouTube. I belong to a camping forum that 10 years ago was booming...I go back now and there's only a handful of posts on any given day. I'd bet money that in another 5 years or even less that these forums basically don't exist or get little to no traffic if they do and basically zero participation. Yeah, someone might look something up and come across something here or on another forum, but how many of those people become active users and participate? You have to have users and participants to keep something like this going.

    I come across old threads in various types of forums all of the time, and yes, there's valuable information there...but there's very little current participation and I certainly don't sign up and participate, which goes to the OP's question, "What happened to groups?" Actual participation has taken a nose dive. The information will always be there because it's the internet...I highly doubt participation will ever make a come back.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,216 Member
    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?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    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
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,520 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Try it if you have any groups, maybe it helps?
    Thanks.
  • evileyefirefly
    evileyefirefly Posts: 322 Member
    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
    MissRevamp Posts: 10 Member
    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 :wink:
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,328 Member
    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.

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