05-13-2015, 10:10 AM
I don't really think it had anything to do with the financial costs of the forum, or the tone of the content on the forum. Neither of those arguments make much sense for many reasons the posters above have already pointed out.
Perhaps it had to do more with an attempt to build/extend the brand. Think about it, a bunch of die-hard Bengals fans talking about the Bengals to other die-hard fans doesn't really do much to build the brand, with respect to increasing exposure. However, forcing all those fans to discuss the Bengals over facebook, twitter, instragram, whatever ensures that others in our social circles are exposed to the Bengals. This in turn increases exposure and builds the brand. It seems fairly minor, but it's the only thing that I can't immediately dismiss as not being logical right off the bat.
Perhaps it had to do more with an attempt to build/extend the brand. Think about it, a bunch of die-hard Bengals fans talking about the Bengals to other die-hard fans doesn't really do much to build the brand, with respect to increasing exposure. However, forcing all those fans to discuss the Bengals over facebook, twitter, instragram, whatever ensures that others in our social circles are exposed to the Bengals. This in turn increases exposure and builds the brand. It seems fairly minor, but it's the only thing that I can't immediately dismiss as not being logical right off the bat.
