Small Social Networking Sites Popping Up Everywhere
I hear about a hot new social networking site almost every day. And I'm beginning to understand why there are so many.
Today, the San Francisco Chronicle profiles myYearbook. The site launched in 2005 and about 3 million people visited the site in June. myYearbook takes its cues from real high school yearbooks; it allows class mates to sign eachother's virtual yearbooks, and hosts things like "most likely to . . ." contests. The content at the site is very specific to the high school audience (the "cute factor" is on 11), and would hold very little appeal to anybody older than 20.
As such, myYearbook is probably too narrowly focused to compete with the MySpaces and Facebooks of the world, and it probably has no intention of doing so. There are hundreds of niche-oriented sites out there like myYearkbook that cater to a narrow strip of a few million users, and new ones popping up every day. LinkedIn caters to professionals. Boomj and Eon cater to Babyboomers. MOG caters to music lovers. Wellsphere caters to the health-conscious. Xanga caters to Generation X. And on and on.
I'm thinking these niche sites might be the way of the future for social networking. People's interests are so varied that the one-size-fits-all approach of MySpace and Facebook may not win out in the long-run. It's already pretty likely that you can find an "online community" that matches your style and tastes more closely than MySpace does.
And there may be enough advertising money floating around to support a large number of these niche sites. eMarketer says social networking sites will draw $900 million in advertising dollars during 2007, and predicts that number will rise to about $2.5 billion by 2011.
In the social networking world today, there are two big daddies and a bunch of much-smaller also-rans. Facebook has about 27-29 million members (depending on who you ask), MySpace has between 65-70 million (depending on who you ask), and the also-rans have anywhere from a few hundred thousand to a few million.
But that dynamic could change as more people become aware of their choices in "online communities." The millions of current online community members might begin spreading out more evenly over a larger number of sites. The relatively young social networking space might begin to fragment in a big way.
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I'm a member of an online support group (Breast Cancer) in a site which is also a 'niche' networking site for health and support groups its called www.mdjunction.com - check it out !!
i'm quite fedup with receiving invitations to join new networking sites actually....they're literally dozens....facebook, hi5, myspace, WAYN, Tagged.....the list goes on and on and the invites still keep pouring in!
There are also some sites that cater to niche groups and start small such as MyCircles.com, but have ambitions to grow into large portals with different content that caters to the niche groups it targets.
MyCircles.com for instance has niche groups for Bikers, Tattoos, Kosher, Asians, Hispanics, Ebony, Gay, Bisexual, Swingers, Fetishes and alternative lifestyles all at the same site.
OnMyCity.com is addressing the local market. Allowing groups like schools, churches and businesses to setup their own social networks in their community.
I've also joined a few of the above sites and was recently invited to check out one that seems to combine the Best parts of many others and rolls them all into this one site. I joined, mainly because I can keep doing what I like, for free, but they also have a program that pays me for any person in my network that follows me . It's Great! Check it out. myfriendswin2.com
norym
norym
I like the small niche community called Phone Buddies ( http://www.phone-buddies.com ) which is a trading site for peer counseling -- emotional support, psychic readings, goal coaching, etc.
I also participate in Tribe and what used to be called Zaadz, but those are larger communities with less of a specific focus about why people join.
I like the small niche community called Phone Buddies ( http://www.phone-buddies.com ) which is a trading site for peer counseling -- emotional support, psychic readings, goal coaching, etc.
I also participate in Tribe and what used to be called Zaadz, but those are larger communities with less of a specific focus about why people join.