If you were to draw up a social media family tree, the lineage that connects Friendster to LinkedIn, LinkedIn to MySpace, MySpace to Facebook, and Facebook to Twitter wouldn’t be that hard to follow in retrospect. Nor would the pace of adoption of these tools for business — very few companies bothered with Friendster, but now even some of the most conservative businesses have jumped onto Facebook and Twitter. Each new tool brought more to the table and contributed to the adoption of social media as a both a personal- and business-communications platform.
But what comes next? What will the “next-gen” social media tool look like?
SmartBrief’s Sean McMahon posed that very question to “Internet Warrior” author Mike “Zappy” Zapolin. Zappy’s prediction: niche, niche, niche.
“If you’re in social network for a business or social media for a certain age group or a certain niche or geographic area, that I think could be the real breakout,” Zapolin explains.
Zapolin, who moderated a panel discussion at last week’s Milken Institute Global Conference on “Developing Your Brand for Online and Mobile Audiences,” goes on to use the evolution of dating websites to support his idea. The Match.coms of the world might dominate, but smaller sites that cater to specific dating desires (think JDate, eHarmony, etc.) have been able to succeed by fine-tuning the user experience, he says.
Watch the full interview with Zapolin.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SmartBrief on SocMed, Tom Harper, Tom Harper, Leslie Berzansky, Pro-Active Media Ltd and others. Pro-Active Media Ltd said: RT @SBoSM: Niche is where social media is evolving next http://ow.ly/1Jw7j [...]
As technology becomes less of a factor, it will take a back seat to the story behind the idea, and how well it's executed.
If this sounds familiar, it's the same thing that happened to network television.
When the costs of producing shows was exorbitant, as it inevitably must be at the beginning of a cycle, there was "I Love Lucy". For decades, one couldn't imagine TV without the show. But as the startup costs went down, it became progressively easier to launch new programming ideas…and "I Love Lucy" became less relevant and ultimately faded away.
When you think of tomorrow's social media niches, don't think too broadly like "Food Network", think episodic TV like "Iron Chef".
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Excellent point! I think the word we're looking for here is "narrowcasting". Even Food Network is a niche channel, and now they've launched The Cooking Channel for grassroots foodies–a niche of a niche!
To find the 'next' successful social network concept – you need to either (a) create your own unique genre, which is hard, or (b) look at already-successful concepts, and identify red-hot niches that are not getting properly served, which is MUCH easier.
Niche doesn't just apply to social media. I've been talking about the efficacy of niche advertising strategies for a long time! My most recent ClickZ article, in fact, talks about this very topic: "How Niche Media Planning Might Be Better for Your Advertiser."
Right.
This is why I'm running 3 businesses on Ning right now and recommend to all my readers and coaching clients to start their own communities, too.
Every community in the "real world" deserves its own social network online, too.
This offers massive opportunity to entrepreneurs smart enough to identify profitable niches and take action today.
Scott Fox http://www.ClickMillionaires.com
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Having picked up on this idea back in NOV09, I agree with Scott and, in the same vein, have worked to put together exactly this type of platform for use across industry verticals, global multis, etc.
Picking up on the nuances of @connectme's comment: I use an open source engine to get the core of the community platform up and running, then augment that with modules/widgets that meet the community workflows. It makes the result functional, reliable, and – best of all – cheap in comparison to either (a) in-house development or (b) buying a 'commercial' platform in.
For me, this opportunity – and the approach I have taken to it – gives great scalability and massive reuse: the platform is skinnable through standard CSS techniques; reuses a lot of the techniques that users are already familiar with from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, et al, and can be deployed inside or outside any firewall that may be in place.
It is a fantastic way to bring disparate members of a community together – whether within an organisation or across a community of interest – and to actively promote the information sharing and other collaborations that give Reed's Law value benefits back to the active community.
There's a two pager on the platform I use at:http://bit.ly/bNYAih
If you want to know more – including how it was built and how you can make your own – I'm happy to chat about it.
Have fun!
What a stupid blog title!
Niche has always been where it is at. Come on guys, up your game.
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Hi Scott, thanks for your comment. I agree, niche does and will continue to play an important role in social media. Do you have any examples of current niche networks to share? As more and more pop up, they will be great models to look at. Thanks!
There's nothing new under the sun! The name of the game is targeting and has been since the 1970s.
[...] Are niches the next big thing? Niche networks are the future of the social Web, says “Internet Warrior” author Mike “Zappy” Zapolin. Broad-based sites such as Facebook won’t go away, Zapolin argues, but they’ll be supplemented by more specialized social tools and services. “If you’re in social network for a business or social media for a certain age group or a certain niche or geographic area, that I think could be the real breakout,” he adds. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media [...]
[...] it in the context of micro magazines. And Mike ‘Zappy’ Zapolin said it at a recent conference: niche is winning the war. Broadcast, big reach media networks are [...]
What happened to Mike "Zappy" Zapolin?
I joined his Internet Warrior Program, paid the membership and then he disappeared. I tracked him down on LinkedIn and Facebook yet, he has yet to respond to me regarding his disappearance after taking my money.
Today….the website based on his book entitled "Internet Warrior" with Alys R. Yablon no longer exists as far as I can tell. I just tried typing in the http://www.internetwarrior.com URL today and got a "server not found error.
Apparently, he is a very smart marketer but, folks should be wary before handing over any money to this man.