So you bought a new community and you’re mesmerized by allthe wonderful applications that the IGLOO platform provides. Youlook closely at two words that strike you as modern and hip: blogsand forums, and you think to yourself “Well, that’snice, but what am I going to use this for?” Well …that’s why I’m here.

If you’re like me, then you like to attend conferences,lectures, or seminars about interesting subjects that trigger yourattention. Usually, that involves a person going on stage andaddressing their audience with a well prepared presentation. Theyprovide a PowerPoint presentation or a video, allowing the audienceto enjoy a visual display of the information as well as addingvisual interest. The speaker gets to address the audience first.Once the speaker is done, he or she asks the audience for a Q&A(Questions and Answers) session. Now, it’s the audiences turnto comment or ask questions.

This is how a blog behaves. The blogger writes about a subjectof interest, adding sometimes images and videos. Once he providedthe information and posted the blog, comments are encouraged.

After the Q&A session is done, you join a group of people ata table who are discussing the lecture by the speaker. Each one ofthem is sitting contributing their thoughts on the matter, all ofwhich have their share and time to collaborate their ideas.

The similitude of a meeting or discussion group at a table islike that of a forum. No one is taking up a stage for themselves.It’s a discussion where information collaboration by all iskey. Information is sourced from everyone attending the forum, andnot by one individual followed by a Q&A .

So forums and blogs are both very useful for their intendedpurposes. But the questions arises, what will you be using? Thebeautiful thing about the IGLOO platform, you won’t need todecide. You can use either a blog or a forum depending on yourneeds.