Dance Jam, Respectance, Marketocracy, LawLink, Reunion.com - the Niche-ifying of Social Networks

When most marketers think about incorporating social networks in their marketing mix,  MySpace and Facebook are the two that they are most likely to consider---understandable considering that MySpace has 72 million users, and Facebook has 52 million. And of course, both MS and FB just released some nifty new services.  But it don't overlook the growing number of niche social networks that are popping up, especially when you consider the opportunities they offer for exact vertical targeting. Here's a sampling:

From TechCrunch:

• Dance Jam  This combination of urban/virtual/YouTube/American Bandstand was founded by M.C. Hammer and partners as a social network where dancers can upload videos of themselves, watch dances and slow them down to learn new moves, search geographically, and virtually compete with other dancers. Can't touch this yet---it's still in beta but coming soon.

From CNN Money:

• Gather.com  "A scholarly MySpace with less hook-ups and more intellectual stimulation" for the boomer crowd.
• TeeBeeDee "The place for people over 40 who believe that life is still to be determined."
• Respectance "A communal grieving space."
• Sermo.com "An online community where physicians around the nation exchange the latest medical insights with each other to improve patient outcomes."
• LawLink "A new professional and social networking site for attorneys."
• PatientsLikeMe "Patients Helping Patients Live Better Every Day"

From WebStrategist

• Kickstart - Yahoo launched this college focused social network to fill the void created when Facebook decided anyone could join.

Comments

[erin]

another one i like a lot is a streaming audio/social networking site called jango (jango.com). just came out of beta and so far, i'm very impressed. not the nonsense of myspace; it's all about the music and meeting others who share similar interests. i was given 35 invites if you are interested. personally, it's my favorite of all social networking i've come across so far.