Before there was Facebook, before there was Myspace, there were forums. These were the social networks of the early web. While Web 2.0 fooled many into thinking that forums were obsolete and that centralized, platform-driven, big-box social media was the future, time has proven them wrong. As people have come to realize that quality beats quantity, forums are making a comeback. Thus what may have seemed like a quaint holdover from the Yahoo days, BTN's forums, is now a potential growth channel.
BTN has a number of features that won't be found in ChatGPT any time soon, features that can keep people on the site for a long time. The visualization above is a broad-spectrum history of name culture across several countries. Despite the somewhat clunky implementation, it boasts an extremely long average session time as users explore the data. Features like these could be advertised better and improved in user experience to turn casual visitors into loyal patrons.
BTN's aforementioned surname section is perhaps the strongest growth sector for the site, as interest in family history and genealogy continues to mushroom. The market for people interested in last names is much larger than first names, and research shows, more affluent. BTN's SEO can be harnessed to attract this new audience.