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As Rikki Chequer expiains, the average internet forum user fits into the road transport demographic.

4th June 2009, Page 9
4th June 2009
Page 9
Page 9, 4th June 2009 — As Rikki Chequer expiains, the average internet forum user fits into the road transport demographic.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A few columns ago I showed how the TruckNet UK forums can be used as a high-value networking tool for small businesses and owneroperators (CM 9 April), What I didn't show was who uses such social and B2B (business to business) networking websites.

The traditional image of internet forum users is of spotty teenagers But user surveys show that those born between 1946 and 1964 are the fastest growing users of social networking sites, and are also increasingly reading blogs*. The largest age group online is 35-44 years old*-. This fits into our industry's demographic and explains why the forums achieve consistent growth.

Industryand role-specific forums have a smaller prospective audience than allencompassing social sites such as Eacebook. However, they provide more targeted information and interaction that keep the user coming back for more.

Earlier this year, we reviewed all the TruckNet UK content and found some of it to be either outdated or duplicated by our sister website Roadtransport.com. We decided to axe around 70% of the site's pages, consolidate the rest within Roadtransport.com, and concentrate on what was most popular with our users. This has led to a 15% drop in total page views but a rise in forum views. This all means that TruckNet UK has easily kept above 1.2 million page views a month.

It's clear that the popularity of networking websites will continue to grow. It is our aim, alongside Roadtransport.com, to continue to be the premier one-stop website for news, information and discussion on our industry.

Finally, an apology. The forums' host recently transferred ownership of its servers at short notice. Rather suddenly the servers were moved to a new location, which led to some people being unable to access the forums for a while. This problem should now be resolved. * Source: Consumer Electronics Usage Survey from Accenture — Source: Hitwise via Econsultancy

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