The rise of social media niche sites
Posted by Taylor Ellwood on April 13, 2010
I’ve seen a lot of predictions about the future of social media and how what will end up occurring is the creation of numerous niche sites that focus on different industries. But that’s not the future. It’s the present, because there are already many niche social media sites, with more being developed all the time. While a site such as Facebook may rule as king of social media sites, all the niche sites are able to offer specialized focus. So what are some niche sites?
Biznik is a small business social networking site. If you own a small business, you should definitely be using this site to do some social and in person networking. Biznik is one of the more popular niche sites, and what it offers is access to the combined resources of many other business owners who have advice and help to offer. Biznik embodies the collaborative spirit of social media.
Avvo is a niche site for lawyers and people seeking lawyers. It’s a site where people can search for lawyers and also read informative and helpful articles by those same lawyers.
Active Rain is another niche site focused on real estate, where real estate agents can offer some advice and suggestions to home owners or potential home owners.
Most recently, I saw a proposal for a public service social media site focused on public service government agencies, contractors, and neighborhoods that need to contact one of them.
More and more niche sites are already being created as people determine and discover needs they have that social media sites can be a medium for. The age of the social media niche sites is already here, and what will come up is further commercialization of such sites as businesses recognize the value of creating social media portals that enable the businesses to stand out to clients and prospects. What’s most important, however, is figuring out how to connect people to the relevant social media sites they may need to do research for particular services, legal, real estate, or otherwise. To do that, my suggestion is to keep up with those sites and keep an eye on them so you can recommend them to clients.
