| 1888 Articles Home | Business Articles | Networking Articles | Networking RSS |  |
||
The Rising Popularity of Niche Social Networking Sites |
||||
|
Dive into the world of social networking. |
||||||||||||
| Author: Connectthru Editor |
|
|||||||||||
Introduction
With the hyper-popularity of social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook, it was only a matter of time before social networking sites began to cater to specific niche markets.
Social networking sites, themselves, can be defined as websites that enable individuals to connect with other people through personal profiles, photos, blogs, and video.
A whopping 6% of all adult Internet users frequent these social networking sites. According to eMarketer.com that percentage is above the percentage of visitors to news sites. Apparently, more people want to socialize than read the news!
What about niche social networking sites specifically? Well … according to The Boston Globe, the job social networking site, LinkedIn, boasts of over 9 million members … and other niche sites are growing at exponential rates as well.
Why Visit Niche Social Networking Sites?
People may favor niche social marketing sites as they may choose to associate with a network that shares more common interests with them – generalized sites such as MySpace are just “too general”. For instance, Dogster and Catster are two niche networking websites that cater to dog and cat lovers – heck, you can even make profiles for your pets on the site.
More mature individuals may also appreciate the fact that these newer niche social networking sites are not solely catering to the youth market. Those individuals who wish to maintain their privacy may choose to become a member of smaller niche networking sites.
What about Niche Social Networking Site Advertising?
eMarketer estimates that advertising spending on all social networking sites in general will increase to a whopping $2.2 billion in 2010 from about an already high number of $865 million dollars this year.
Advertising on niche social networking sites also continues to increase as marketers discover the importance of building brand awareness on this type of targeted forum.
“Advertisers will be more likely to get engagement from knowledgeable users on a niche site, and will more likely find brand advocates if they are properly targeting the right niche sites,” explains Emily Riley, an Analyst with JupiterResearch.
What Will Niche Social Networking Sites Look Like in the Future?
People who are passionate about a certain topic will continue to seek out a group of like-minded individuals with similar interests … in the near future and beyond.
“Niche sites that center around an enduring subject matter that people actually want to
talk about will do best. Additionally, niche sites that are organized to help people get information will be more successful than sites that allow random chatter,” concurs Riley.
However, it may be that there will be too many niche social networking sites about a particular topic to support these separate networks – as a result, these smaller social networks may join together.
Riley agrees with these assessments and states, “Niche social sites in many cases may merge with similarly targeted niche content sites to become a combined destination”.
Overall then, business is booming in the online social networking scene … and the niche online networks in particular.
About Author
http://connecttru.com
Article Source:
http://www.1888articles.com/author-connectthru-editor-1273.html
Other Related Articles Marketing Your Blog by ConnectThru Editor Proper Pool Maintenance by Robert Thomson The Rising Popularity of Niche Social Networking Sites by ConnectThru Editor The Guide to Approaching Charities on the Internet by ConnectThru Editor Tips For Choosing Exterior Paint by Budda Oliver Municipality Prefers Vertical File Storage Systems by Brad Barrett |
