Niche Social Networks As A Viable Business Model
Posted by Nick O'Neill on November 20th, 2007 4:30 PMYesterday, Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote an interesting article about the seemingly infinite niche social networking space. I have to say that I mostly agree with what Marshall is suggesting. One after the other, we hear about yet another social network that launches. There are so many, I think we should add YASN as an acronym for “Yet Another Social Network.” Every day we see a number of them launch with a Mashable or Techcrunch posting. One newspaper after another launches one and commercial brands are launching their own social networks as well.
Eventually it seems as though every entity has its own social network. It makes sense but I begin to wonder if we will really sign up for a wide array of social networks to express our vast number of affiliation groups. Ultimately, humans love to be a part of affiliation groups. Those affiliation groups have shared interests among their members. The only problem is that the number of interests that we each have has appeared to expand as we spend more time on the internet.
Personally, I am interested in Non-Fiction business books, The Office, web development, mens clothing, international travel, tennis, blogging, DC new media, business news, the stock market, Facebook, networking, dating, entrepreneurship, Wine Library TV, video editing, foreign languages, skiing, sleeping and a limitless number of things. Am I supposed to join a social network for each of these interests? The funny thing is that there are social networks for most of these interests.
Ning has tried to accomodate individuals facing the same problem. Facebook has provided users with groups and fan pages where you can find people that are members of shared affiliation groups. Honestly though, when does it become too much? Is it really possible to keep track of my activities across a number of disconnected social networks? I doubt it. That’s why I think Facebook (or a similar competitor) is the real solution.
The counter-argument would be that the internet’s key feature is the long-tail. Long tail interests and sites that cater to these interests are a key characteristic of the general web. Can one social network satisfy those users or should they be distributed across a multitude of social networks?
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Basically, people join once and then add the communities into their single account. There are sites for people who are into Sci Fi, trucking, yoga, music, movies, politics and a hundred other things. Examples include TrekPassions.com, NerdPassions.com, ShyPassions.com, ChristianPassions.com, etc.
Since the member chooses the sites that match their 'passions' in life, they decide just how many places they want to appear. Everything is managed in one place, and there are ways for them to promote their other social networking affiliations as well. Members can add links to their LiveJournal, MySpace and Facebook profiles (as well as a hundred others).
Niche networking can be easier than joining a lot of individual sites with individual logins, and Passions Network is proof of it.
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Its interesting you mention Ning. Calicanis, who is certainly known for his "interesting" predictions, suggests that folks will leave Facebook as its groups have less and less use given that its still a walled garden, that you lack control within, and can't track.
While Ning is probably not a Facebook killer, Calicanis' predications aren't too ungrounded as they crossed 125,000+ threshold in terms of communities this week according to their blog.
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