2012 Predection – The continued rise of niche social networks

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December 13, 2011 by MARTECH SOCIAL

2011 has seen the major social networks expand their reach, with Facebook now achieving over 800m users, Twitter heading towards 100m and Google+ rapidly catching. So, with such a large proportion of online consumers on these channels, what possible value is there in niche social networks?

Well, Niche social networks have seen fantastic growth in 2011. Foursquare, the location based social app has 15 million users, checking in 4 million times per day at over 30 million locations. Instagram, the social photo sharing app has 15m users and saw an average of 50 photo shares per second over Thanksgiving. Both of these are niche social networks connecting people around a common theme or interest.

These are just two examples of how niche social networks are growing and we expect to see a wide range of other niche social networks gain traction in 2012. From Cime.in to FoodSpotting and Path, these social networks all focus on connecting smaller groups of people around a common theme like food or family. They also have similar traits – mobile, social and local.

These new social networks will be mobile connecting the what are you doing with the where and with whom. For social relevance, they also contain the ability to connect with friends on Twitter and Facebook to ensure maximum relevance with the consumers’ daily social activity.

In this day of social giant dominance any niche that does not connect with the the major networks will be doomed to failure. At Martech we have been developing niche brand social networks for some time, ensuring the social interactions and content are managed and owned by the brand whilst the social engagements are seamlessly integrated with the larger social networks.

 

 

In 2012 we expect to see more social networks appear, connecting the best elements of the larger social networks with the best parts of a brand or interest.

Are you a member of a niche social network?

Source: http://www.martechsocial.com/