Oct 8, 2008 10:35 am US/Eastern
Social Networking Sites Cater To All Walks Of Life
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Social networking has already made the jump from college dorms to corporate boardrooms. Sites like
Myspace and
Facebook have exploded to include members of all walks of life.
But now some new sites are popping up all over the Internet to cater to those looking for a smaller group of people with similar interests. So, if you're interested in an
online knitting group, or a chat room full of
Harley Davidson riders, you're in luck. "There are large communities of people in our society that have a lot of different interests," explained social networking expert Brendan Wovchoko. "It just makes sense to create these miniature networks that focus in on people's specific interests," he added.
How popular are these new sites? There are literally thousands of membership sites covering virtually every niche. There's
Digg, a popular social news site,
Yub, a site for shop-a-holics,
Flixer for movie buffs and Teebeedee, for
users over 40.
Social Networking researcher Alice Marwick says there is a specific site for just about every age and stage of life. "If you're a
parent, or you're
getting married, or you're a
career professional, there is going to be a social networking site that meets your needs," she said.
There are even some sites designed for your four-legged friends. "There are pet sites like
Dogster, and
Catster, that I find very entertaining," Marwick said.
Experts say the niche sites tap into that feeling of belonging, without being lost in the crowd, and the niche sites allow like-minded people to control who sees posts and photos. "It's easer to just find people and things that you are interested in," said Wovochoko.
Finding a site that fits your needs is as easy as typing your interest plus social networking into a search engine like
Google.
Marwick says you are bound to find something that connects you with millions of other networkers on the Web. "It really allows people to s hare things with each other that they might not on a large social networking site," she said.
This is not all fun and games; there's big money at stake. Advertisers are expected to spend nearly $2 billion on targeted social networking in the next two years.
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