Thinking about launching a new niche social network for a science or cultural community of professionals? Think again. It costs a lot to do well, and there’s a major risk of failure. People don’t have much time to spend logging into yet another social network, and it’s hard to reach a critical mass so that the site is interesting for people to use.
On the other hand, many niche communities still lack a good way to interact online. So there’s a potential need for new social networks.
US marketers will spend $3.08 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year, according to eMarketer data published in January. Spending will be up 55% over the $1.99 billion advertisers devoted to social networks in 2010 and will rise by a further 27.7% next year to reach nearly $4 billion.
Social networks are pretty inescapable for most of us these days – and in this industry, people just don’t know what to do with anyone who isn’t already on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest… need I go on? If you’re like me, you’re usually a bit hesitant to jump on the bandwagon for the next new thing – OMG, I have to create content and engage with people on another social network? – but there are a few niche social networks you should take notice of if you fit the demographics.
The social network for meeting
Millions of people are having fun and making new friends on Tagged every day. You can too!
So, without further ado, let us discuss these 42 niche social networks.
Please note that these sites generally have an Alexa ranking of 100,000 or less, unless there is a lot of recent activity. Additionally, some sites I use on this list and there are some that I have heard of from other professionals or through online research. I will do my best to give you the best niche social networks, however, I ask for a mea culpa if I am off anywhere.
Here are these 42 rocking niche social networks with a brief description in no particular order.