While perusing the blogosphere a couple of days ago, I came across a specialized social network targeted at book lovers titled, Shelfari. According to Shelfari's website, the company introduces readers to a global community of book lovers and encourage them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers (for now). As an avid reader, I joined and started adding my literary interests. Although I'm just getting started, I like that I can share my tastes with others and I hope I can glean new books to read based on like-minded individuals.
With general interest social network providers such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo addressing the needs of the masses, I believe that niche social networks such as Shelfari and the venture I am currently working at TeamZoneSports, a private social network for sports teams, represent the next big wave in social networking.
According to the Business Week article, "Social Networks Go Niche," published in March 2007, "...some users and potential users have grown wary about exposing themselves to so many people [using open social networks such as MySpace and Facebooks]. Some users would rather connect with people with whom they share common interests, such as hobbies or professional associations, other than knowing somebody who knows somebody who is listed as a MySpace friend." I place myself firmly in this category. I would much rather connect with those who I have a real association or relationship with as opposed to the randomness inherent with open social networks.
From a monetization perspective, the same article suggests that advertisers are willing to pay a hefty premium to have their ads display on niche social networks over those that target the masses. It reflects that advertisers pay double digit CPMs to display on niched social networks compared to the sub-$1 CPM range of broad-based social networks.
In January 2008, the social networking news source, Mashable, reflected, "According to eMarketer, last year advertisers spent $920 million on advertising within social networks - and of that amount, 8.2 percent went to niche networks. This year it is estimated that spending will increase to $2.1 billion, and the take for smaller networks will rise to 10%. This is due to what is perceived as an improved return on investment for an advertiser's marketing dollar through secondary social channels." So, both the size of the advertising pie increases as well as the share of the pie for niche social network providers.
All that said, I've added my Shelfari Bookshelf to this blog. You can check it out by scrolling down the page until you see the bookshelf in the sidebar on the left side of the page. Clicking on the logo at the top of the bookshelf will take you to my Shelfari bookshelf page where you can view my entire library.
2 comments:
It will be interesting to see how these niche social networks evolve. From a marketing perspective they will be a lot more focussed compared to reaching out via MySpace or a Facebook.
Thanks for the feedback, Neil. I agree with your assessment. I think this was a key reason why Amazon recently acquired Shelfari. Not only did it have great alignment from a book perspective, but it provides Amazon with a new source of revenue.
Gary
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