Joel R

I agree... returning users are more likely to read to the bottom of the page. That's a certain segment that we must focus on. 
But...
If you look at your traffic you will likely see that most of your users are guests. At least for large sites, this is always the case.
In my experience, it NEVER hurt to place a Similar Content block directly under the first post. It ALWAYS helped.
With today's SEO changes, this along with other changes help improve traffic.
(The Similar Content block has the most impact when it is fast and topics are all quality content. Similar topics should be helpful.)

Whoa whoa, 16 minutes is way too long to spend on growth.  Four minutes is plenty 😆.  
Kidding.  
If you have any growth hacks, write them down and I'll be happy to aggregate them! 

I feel like you and I are sharing an inside joke and I'm laughing and nodding my head but I actually don't know what you're talking about and I'm too embarrassed to admit it so I keep on laughing.  🤣🤔🤣

Ah okay.  Yeah the post was briefly published on Saturday for about a minute, which was long enough for @tonyv to get a sneak peek at it and an email notification to be sent.  

I feel like you and I are sharing an inside joke and I'm laughing and nodding my head but I actually don't know what you're talking about and I'm too embarrassed to admit it so I keep on laughing.  🤣🤔🤣

Whoa whoa, 16 minutes is way too long to spend on growth.  Four minutes is plenty 😆.  
Kidding.  
If you have any growth hacks, write them down and I'll be happy to aggregate them! 

1. Tutorial or Articles - Everyone needs help. Creating tutorials on your website brings users but doesn't add much interaction. Then the new enhancement from IPS kicks in. I am just going to quote you @Joel R - 
2. Log-in - Make it fast and more user friendly. Add all available logins ex. Twitter, FB, Discord, etc etc. Time is important and everyone hates filling Govt. forms.  :P 
3. Target advertising or follow ups - Can't wait IPS to add Bulk emails/PM's which supports Custom Field. Don't spam users with generic emails. Everyone hates it and it would be soon marked as spam by user!  Ex - If player is not playing RPG games - don't send RPG games email. Use custom field which they have selected i.e. FPS to send him FPS games update. I can't wait for new enhancements on it! @Matt
Use custom fields to show their profile completion progress, Registration should be email/password and validation. 
4. Themes - Provide light and dark theme at least. Even now mobile OS provides - light and dark theme so that user can use what they like. I just wish Themes would be available to select through drop down menu rather then all the way in bottom! 

Whoa whoa, 16 minutes is way too long to spend on growth.  Four minutes is plenty 😆.  
Kidding.  
If you have any growth hacks, write them down and I'll be happy to aggregate them! 

Oh yes, those things do help - one thing to be on the lookout for though - with hack #4 a moderator should look at least sometimes on the topic if the community has some passionate but hotheaded members 😉 

Very useful ideas, thanks @Joel R
Waiting now for the 16x16 Growth Hacks. 

I use the built in IPS similar content block which is driven by tags and I also use a secondary block for similar topics based on content by @A Zayed which works out well for topics that don't have tags and ads more content to the page for readers and SEO.
 

I would most definitely agree ! 🙂

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

I'd like to also add, without giving or affirming any direction, there have been many impassioned debates from the IPS team on how to best offer a new user experience for v5.  
On a more practical note, I think community admins need to strongly consider using or building a custom homepage (such as in Pages app) while on Invision 4.    
If there is a great homepage design that you feel does an especially good job of engaging members, feel free to link or share it in the Feedback forum for review.  Or share in the Client Lounge to inspire other clients and theme developers.  

Widgets are managed via the front end 
 

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

I'm doing this lately for specifically mobile. Found out that I had an addthis sharing widget that was blocking some buttons on mobile. Also looking at how easy or hard it is to post and navigate. Lately I'm trying to moderate through mobile just to see how everything is as 65-70% of my traffic this year seems to be from mobile devices.  

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

I am part of some webmaster forums, yoga and hiking. Crazy active forums. I have also seen lot's of fashion forums and even mom's forums where moms talk to each other. They even sell stuff through their forums and makes crazy $$ out of it. 
This is still a prove for nothing. Neither that FB group is easy and own community is hard to maintain, nor vice versa. 
 

Discord is crazy popular atm. Not in just gaming world but even in professional stock traders and many other people from different field are using it. The whole privacy stuff - I agree with you but the reality is only minority of % people care about it. If majority would care - Facebook user base would decline but it's not actually.  Facebook user base out of all odds, is actually growing. From Facebook earning call - 
https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2019/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2018-Results/default.aspx
 
IMO - i see it as opposite. My kid had eczema when he was 1 year old due to less humidity in house because of crazy winter spell in east coast. I was able to find Dr. through Facebook and got support and suggestions through FB group. People where really communicative and in fact people use FB messenger same as forum PM but it is instant conversation saving my time.   In today's world, time is value and everyone wants faster feedback, replies and support. Someone post on FB, you get notification if you have opted in and you either help or pass it on or ask Q.  Plus the accessibility through App makes it much faster. No down time much and no maintenance required. Select some good moderators and you are good to go. No need to worry for webserver, php, database, turning, etc etc.
It's same with IPS or phpBB or Xenforo. If I use IPS platform, I am at mercy of IPS. If i use FB, I am at mercy as of FB. So for a user that always has been the case. Not for Matt or Brandon because they are geeky masterminds :)  
 

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

Some thoughts in no particular order: 
1. Yes, Facebook will be here for a very long time.  They've done an exceptionally good job of making the service as sticky as possible for users, with games, marketplace selling, and soon their Libra coin.  
2. Facebook and Discord is not free.  There's a false sense of free with those services, where it's literally costing you your user data and privacy.  
3. Whether or not Facebook and Discord are easier to start a new community on, they're exceptionally bad for large communities with a lot of activity.  There's no long form communication or organization on those platforms, which makes to hard to save and retain the best content.  
The one overwhelming takeaway from this article is that anytime you rely on another platform, you're at it's mercy.  The only way to protect yourself is to run an independent community.  You lose a lot of the platform's benefits, but you control your own destiny.  

Facebook is going no where but it seems, their are tons of bureaucracy issues with it. Until we find replacement for Facebook, it will be here for a long time. 
Smaller communities are also going no where yet but imagine the cost of hosting something? Example - Youtube - you post the videos and make the $$ out of it. Now if you need conversation place, Facebook is good choice because no additional fees. 
Gaming communities - they are also slowly moving to different things - example Discord. Everything happens live. Why a gaming community, needs to pay additional 625$/year + additional recurring cost, while free alternative exist which has Mobile app, as well. 
The only descent way to make money out of your website is only if you have direct contact with advertisements because definitely Google ad-sense doesn't pay you much. Over the years, I have seen lot's of good content getting lost because website owners have no intention to keep stuff going. 
Facebook, Discord, etc etc is all free, free. So for starting, it get's more easy to host stuff on it and requires no additional skills. Just click, click and done. One of the reasons, I think reddit, is so popular, now a days.