IMDB shutters ‘no longer positive’ message boards, migrates chat to social channels
IMDB is reflecting a wider trend in digital media, deciding now’s the time to shut down message boards on its website.
Jurassic Park's Dennis Nedry
Following in the footsteps of Vice and The Guardian, the movie database is closing its message board, which reportedly sees 250m users a month.
To make up for the absence of the forum, and undoubtedly diminishing its responsibility for comments and spats around its brand, the company has directed movie fans to its Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube and Pinterest accounts instead.
In a statement, the group said: “We have decided to disable IMDB's message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDB's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.
“IMDB is passionately committed to providing innovative ways for our hundreds of millions of users to engage and communicate with one another. We will continue to enhance our current offerings and launch new features in 2017 and beyond that will help our customers communicate and express themselves in meaningful ways while leveraging emerging technologies and opportunities.”