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December 31, 2007

2008 prediction: Niche social networks will abound

I believe 2008 will be the year of the social network. With DIY services like Ning, Kickapps and others, it's bound to happen.

Personally, I see the development of these  mirroring what happened in the blogosphere in 05 and 06. But, that's me.

What do you think? Will we see niche social networks developing at a rapid pace? If so, what will be the implications?

Also, please feel free to list any niche socnets of which you are aware. Thks.

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Comments

I think you are right Paul. The issues surrounding early online social networking was that the applications and purposes were not practical for business development. As it evolves people are learning how to use these networks to better their business and not to use them just to use them.

I'm probably just stating the obvious Matt. (I'm known for that.) Nonetheless, I'm very interested to see if socnets follow a similar path to blogs.

Happy new year!

To me, the last few years have already been the year of the niche social network.

It's just that the big networks are taking up so much of the PR that people hardly hear about the hundreds of really great networks. http://adholes.com/ was created back in '04 and still caters to advertising professionals and upcoming sites like http://yoursphere.com/ are taking new approaches to old problems in the new year.

The train already left the station for niche social networks, it's just that most people are only starting to realize that this year.

I think 2008 will go beyond the niche and into the mobile unit. People will have mobile interfaces for social networks that make what we do on the web today seem rather boring.

Jesse,

Thanks for the comment. You're a visionary. You saw it coming long ago. For the rest of us, this year is it!

I've tried ning, can't really say that i see it being a better fit than just forming a group on facebook.

I guess for me that'll be the breaker, can i do something on a niche social network, that I can't do on facebook or one of the biggies?

paul, you're absolutely spot on. we've been working with the professional aviation maintenance association (PAMA), which is having great success with a niche network focused on certifying aircraft mechanics. full background here:
http://www.socialcustomer.com/2008/01/positively-cert.html

feel free to email me if you want more background on what they're doing.

happy new year! -cfc