This website is specialised for social networks but this new types of forum software are adopting characteristics of social networking websites. Users can follow each other, user interface is simpler and real time, just like you see on twitter, facebook and similar websites. So, here are most promising projects in forum software category.

Discourse is open-source discussion software. Created by Jeff Atwood co-founder of Stack Exchange, Discourse is aiming to become "Wordpress for forums"

Discourse can also works as:

• mailing list


• discussion forum


• long-form chat room

The front-end of Discourse relies on Ember.js, the Javascript framework. In comparison to classical forums, Discourse has automatic posts loading on scrolling, real-time updates and mobile ready interface. Discourse responsive design is ready to work out of the box on multiple platforms and devices like desktop computers, mobile phones and tablets. SitePoint forum and Twitter developer forums had already migrated to Discourse. Demo is available here.

NodeBB is a mobile friendly discussion platform with real time interactions and notifications. Interfaces are designed with simplicity, ease-of-use and speed in mind. NodeBB is built with node.js and utilizes web sockets technology. You can extend NodeBB functionalities with plugins and change design with themes. See it in action on community website.

Flarum Flarum is created by Toby Zerner who also created EsoTalk forum software. Franz Liedke creator of FluxBB forum software joined development team of Flarum, and FluxBB 2.0 will be merging into Flarum. On the surface, Flarum uses Ember.js Javascript framework. Back-end is built with Laravel, conforming to the JSON-API spec, on top of a MySQL database. Flarum is in development stage, but by developers previous experience we can expect powerful and innovative forum software. You can test Flarum demo installation here.