With the recent widespread focus on social media = Twitter and Facebook, it's easy to lose sight of the classics.  I'm personally fortunate to have worked on some of the earliest web-based communities via my tenure at iChat back in the 1990s.  Then, as now, open and inviting environments to discover and participate in conversations resonate. Fundamentally, Forums that are integrated into primary web sites are a critical component of the social web.  And according to Josh Bernoff at Forrester, Forums are still the number #1 social media tool, used by 23% of creators (the next two, comments and reviews, get 21% and 19% adoption respectively). 

What really makes Forums still cool, even as they feel old school today (hopefully in a good way like a favorite pair of classic Puma Clydes)?  I'd argue that you should show your Forums significant attention, and/or make sure you deploy world-class Forums if you're not already invested, for five major reasons:

1) Evangelism:  with Pluck's broad approach to integrated social media, we're often asked how people float between tools.  Do the same people who review, offer comments?  Are bloggers also photo publishers?  It turns out that in many cases, users are very active in certain areas and less so in others.  There truly are messengers vs. commentors vs. answer providers.  And with Forums, often a site's most evangelical leaders camp out to connect with one another and show expertise.  Time and again, our clients showcase people who live in their Forums for hours a night.  For example, for the Dallas Cowboys there's no better place than their core True Blue Fan Club. No where are there more passionate brand advocates.
2) Support:  Forums are a phenomenal way to answer real customer questions and to drive site visitors to become frequent, loyal customers.  For example, check out the folks at Scotts and how they are helping the Southern Lawn interest group deal with dormancy, over seeding, weeds and more this winter.  Scotts understands that quick responses online lead to better word of mouth, higher unaided brand recall, and more in store purchases.  
3) Altruism: while the holidays seem to amplify folks' kindness, I'm consistently blown away by how much voluntary assistance occurs on the web.  Forums generate tremendous opportunities for your clients to show good will towards one another.  If you haven't, visit Frommers and you'll be amazed at how much quality user-generated travel advice is provided, generally via knowledgeable visitors who simply want to help one another.
4) Traffic: when done well, and tied into passionate topics, Forums can drive massive volumes of audience, and prove to be enormously engaging.  As Jan recently posted, The Knot has re-launched their Forums on Pluck.  With tens of millions of page views monthly, the Knot is one of the largest and most vibrant message boards oriented communities online today.  And with sponsorships from advertisers like Macy's and Dreams resorts, the Knot is proving that social media audiences can be directly monetized.
5) Analysis:  as most of our clients have grokked, Social CRM has gone beyond buzz to requirement.  Forums are a great place to listen to your customers as they interact with one another.  Kraft (especially during this holiday season) does a brilliant job of encouraging dialogue, participating where appropriate, and tuning in to listen constantly.  Often, Forums prompt product, promotional, messaging and other ideas that the CRM team is able to bring to the larger Kraft marketing organization.

There are tons of other examples of, and reasons to, treat Forums as a critical pillar of an integrated social media strategy.  Check out our Customers section for more details.  And give us a shout if you have any questions.  We've recently published a white paper on Forums Migrations that captures best practices associated with dozens of projects we've led to help our clients move from legacy technology systems.  We'd love to share the paper and talk through options and approaches.