Forum community network CrowdGather announced its acquisition of FreeForums.org (one of the largest free forum community hosting platforms on the Web) for $1 million in a combination of cash and stock. This will bring CrowdGather’s network of forums to approximately 80 million monthly page views and 4.5 million monthly unique visitors according to the company's own analytics, an increase of over 500% from the Company’s last quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

What this really shows is that despite all of the hype surrounding free-standing social networks like Twitter and Facebook, forums still have their place in Web marketing - both on-site and as promotional vehicles. That means you should be actively participating in forums within your industry and perhaps even fostering your own forum community.

“This is a milestone achievement for us,” said Sanjay Sabnani, CrowdGather’s Chairman and CEO. “FreeForums.org has built up an impressive network of forums and we believe that CrowdGather will be able to successfully monetize these properties by integrating them into verticals that will appeal to advertisers.” Sabnani continued, “With this acquisition, our network of forums have grown rapidly from just under nine million page views per month in fiscal 2008 to 80 million monthly page views currently. Our goal is to continue to drive growth by focusing on the inherent value of forums and the richness of the content created by their users. We believe that forums are the help desk of the Internet and a valuable repository of answers and experiences.”

FreeForums.org owner and founder Phil Santoro commented, “CrowdGather is exactly the type of company we were looking for when we made the decision to sell. Few people today recognize that forums have not only not gone away, they remain one of the most vital, active communities online. Our motivation was to find an entity that is not only focused on forums, but also cultivates them and provides the staff and resources to continue to drive our growth. We believe that CrowdGather is the right choice, and I am excited to be a new shareholder of the company.”

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