Social
Renaissance on the Web
In
an attempt to be commercially viable, today most social networks are not
only eyeing consumers’ eyeballs but they’re also exploring their pockets
for the advertisers. So an evolution is taking place where social
network marketers are targeting mobile users, regional communities, and
even business executives. Focused networking is also part of this
change. And footbo.com
is one such network that aims to attract football fans. Through My
Techbox Online, Mani
Honigstein, co-founder,
footbo.com expresses his opinion on this evolution.
The face
of the internet is changing; if you are not sure about anything in life,
you can be sure about that. Social networks have taken the web by storm,
with more and more people signing up to sites and joining this growing
trend. Every day it seems a new social network is appearing. And it
seems that we have only seen the beginning. But how is that possible in
a world in which there are a handful of social networks that already
dominate the market and show no sign of losing the number of users they
currently possess?
The now
major players on the field such as Facebook and MySpace are not
overnight wonders. They have been around for a couple of years and their
subscriber numbers are phenomenal. Most people believe that these sites
have made an indelible mark on the internet landscape; I would tend to
agree. But what lies ahead? Recent research and investigation into
internet users’ behavior shows that more focused social networks are the
way of the future. We at Footbo would obviously tend to agree to this.
To
understand these developments, we should first be clear about what
exactly a social network is. The typical and basic concept behind a
social network is that it offers users a profile page, which enables
them to interact and communicate with other members of the same network,
be it via messages, blog posts, comments, pictures, videos, etc. In a
way social networks are the natural evolution of communication over the
web. There was e-mail, IM, Forums, Chats and social networks bring it
all together.
We are
however, in the process of witnessing a social networking evolution
which began with people connecting with everyone and anyone (MySpace),
to then connecting with their friends and family (Facebook). Now, that
people have connected with their friends and family members, the desire
to connect with people who share a similar passion or interest has
arisen. And even though it is true that a niche social networking site
will not attract the same number of users as the big incumbents, there
still remains a huge number of people who are willing to share
information and media with others with whom they can relate to. The
potential exists for niche social networks for every interest, hobby,
passion and pastime; the options are truly limitless.
However,
this potential has to have an economic driving force coming from
somewhere. Otherwise, these sites wouldn’t be able to survive for long.
Advertisers are expected to spend close to $2 billion on social networks
by 2010 and these niche networks will help advertisers to more
efficiently target people who will be interested in their product or
service. No longer will a user have to see a pointless advert for
something based on their IP address (which enables ads to be targeted to
a user dependent on their location). And no longer will an advertiser
have to spend money on advertising en masse to a user who might
not even be interested in the product or service being advertised.
Enter the
big corporation which, in theory, will try to take advantage of these
developments by launching targeted networks so that they can try to reap
some of the benefits. I predict that such networks will be less
successful. Sure, they might be able to offer fancy features, and have
the budget to woo users to their site, but as was the case with Facebook
when it announced its planned advertising strategy, people want to
connect with others on a “genuine” level. This community feeling and
camaraderie can only be provided by a platform that actually cares about
catering to its users. Some of these “commercial” niche networks have
already risen and fallen due to their inability to really provide what
is being demanded.
The
requirements of any niche social network entering the market are crucial
and yet relatively straight-forward. A site will have to provide
features and use technologies that are not only relevant to a user, but
also easy to use. Fundamentally however, it will have to provide value
to a user’s life. This means that there will be very specific features
and relevant content. If the network fails to do so, there are enough
niche sites out there, and more appearing every day, which will be
attempting to do so. In addition, Facebook and the more generic social
networks will succeed in becoming the place for all your needs.
Mani Honigstein is co-founder of footbo.com. He has written this opinion
article exclusively for My Techbox Online.
This article first
appeared in the old version of My Techbox Online on Aug. 19, 2008.
