Social networking is all about developing connections or ties between friends and associates. While people have always networked with one another, the Internet has allowed us to do this in a global manner. Some great examples of popular social networks are Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Most people have heard of these services and many use them on a daily basis. These communities are able to generate income from advertising and additional paid services.
Digg.com is an aggregator of information from other sites. They allow people to post links to interesting videos, blogs, news feeds, and other forms of media and content. This posting is then pushed to the top of their site based on how many others on the site also enjoy that post. Eventually, the posting will fall below the fold and fade into oblivion. The key with their site is that you are not actually viewing the body of the content on their site. This service is essentially a dynamic link farm times ten.
LinkedIn.com has taken the concept of a social network and polished it with a professional touch. With this service you can build a professional profile, connect with recruiters, connect with other professionals in your area, and most importantly, connect with everyone with whom they are connected. LinkedIn has really latched onto the power of the extended network concept.
Facebook.com originally started at Harvard University. This site was essentially a digital version of the book that the school gave to its incoming students so that everyone could get to know one another. This site is very much about building profiles and linking those profiles through an eavesdropping feature that Facebook calls “the wall”. This feature essentially catches all the activity that your friends are performing on the site. The wall is another form of aggregation. Facebook is also well-known for its extensibility features in that it allows developers to create and host applications directly in the Facebook environment.
Twitter.com is what most would call a microblog. This site allows you to post very small blurbs to your blog which are then fed out to your subscribers (friends). This service is largely used for letting people know what you are up to. A great use of this feature is posting: “I am at such and such coffee shop. If anyone is nearby feel free to stop by and have a cup with me.”
Communities listed in the previous section were some examples of large, very accomplished sites. There are far more examples of successful community sites that operate on a much smaller scale. Some of these include Rockero.com, AnimeDates.com, and Ning.com. While not as large or as well-known, these are very active communities that are able to generate a living by means of advertisements on their community.
Rocker.com (created by Jose Nava) is a community that is all about the Latino rock-and-roll scene. This site hosts news, articles, forums, and videos that are all about rock and roll! It has a fairly large following and is an excellent example of a niche site.
AnimeDates.com (created by Adam and Adrianne Wolkov) is a community that brings anime (Japanese cartoons) lovers together. This site puts a twist on the concept of dating in that it tries to bring anime followers together in an intimate way. They have actually had several from their community find the love of their life and get married as a result!
Note
During the writing of this book, AnimeDates.com was acquired by Mania.com. Congratulations Adam and Adrianne!
Ning.com is a community that allows you to build your own community in less than five minutes. This community by itself is large in that its users can create sub-communities that may also be large. But the point of this site is all about creating niche networks. An example of this is http://userinterfacedesign.ning.com/. This community allows its users to discuss the topic of user interface design.
