Social Networking Sites
Social Networking- the Revenue Generator
While doing some research on social networking domain, found some interesting figures to share, which will surely drive the social networking development companies.
Market at a glance-
The market for the internet and social networking communities is estimated at about USD 1500M this year.
Social network/Community development and enhancement individually by 2006 stood at USD 700M and is estimated to touch USD 4000M by 2010.
The top 3 player in the market are Myspace, Facebook and Bebo with market shares 80.74%, 10.32%, 1.18% respectively.( data is based on custom category of 20 of the leading social networking websites ranked by market share of visits, which is the percentage of traffic to the site, based on Hitwise sample of 10 million US Internet users. The percentages represent the market share of visits among the websites within the custom category.)
Growth Path-
Social networking sites are growing 47% year on year increasing from an audience of 46.8 million to 68.8 million in April 2006.
Social networking sites are the reality of the Internet; the content is relatively inexpensive for publishers to produce.
It will become more ingrained in mainstream sites, just as reality TV shows. MySpace.com, the top Social Networking site of all in terms of number of registered users, saw a staggering 367% increase. The graph is still increasing with many more Social Networking players jumping in; the web scene seems set just right for Social Networking.
The social networking sites that are seeing strong growth have developed a unique online presence which is refreshed by user generated content. This promotes ongoing consumers interest and visitor loyalty. The market share of Internet visits to the top 20 social networking websites grew by 11.5 percent from January to February 2007, to account for 6.5 percent of all Internet visits in February 2007.
Mobile Social networking- The next Destination
Social networking is going mobile and is poised for spectacular growth over the next five years, mobile social communities will be attracting members in swarms, more than tripling in size from 50 millions to 174 millions by 2011.
For the moment, MySpace and Facebook are hot. News Corp. paid 0 million last year for MySpace as part of a .3 billion Internet acquisition spree. Facebook just received an additional million in venture capital.
Both companies are planning to extend their reach beyond the computer screen to cell phones.
Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless are starting a service that will allow users to post messages on Facebook’s home pages or search for other users’ phone numbers and email addresses from a cell phone.
MySpace has a pact with Helio, a wireless joint venture between SK Telecom and Earthlink, which will allow users to send photos and update their blogs or profiles by cell phone.
Advertising-
Social networks are an integral part of the cultural fabric of the internet and their rapidly growing and demographically appealing audience has attracted the attention of advertisers.
According to the latest forecasts, marketers will pony up an estimated 0 M in the USA to advertise.
By 2010, the online advertising spend will grow to .8 billion.
Marketer estimates that the social networking ad spend of the USA will rise to 0 million in 2007(up from million in 2006), and by 2010 is expected to reach 5 million.
Advantages-
Advertising on social networks will teach marketers important ways to reach newly-empowered consumers.
Social networks will have an incalculable influence on all advertising, both online and offline.
If companies can go even deeper to develop marketing efforts that fully embrace the “one-to-one-to-many nature of social networks, ad revenues will soar. This way of advertising will spill over into other channels. The underlying concept will influence the way advertising is done in all media, not just online.
Social Networking- The revenue Generator
Advertisers delight- Advertisers can target local as well as international market at one place.
Social networks are becoming a good environment to sell products, especially if marketers want to cultivate a brand and get its loyal users to do the selling and evangelizing. That evangelism happens in a community.
Recruiters’ Heaven- Now a day, top MNCs are hiring from professional social networking sites like Linkedin. They can also check the social index and compatibility of the candidate along with the background check, which is helping them to save a lot of money.
The cost of gaining new customers is practically nothing because users join voluntarily and provide their own content through their profiles.
The interactive nature of social networking sites keeps visitors coming back which helps the sites to retention rate high.
The cost of running the sites’ web servers is relatively low. If a classic advertising or subscription revenue model is used, low cost social network sites could be highly profitable.
All the above information concretes our philosophy that social networking as a domain for business is going to stay and grow in a rapid rate.
Find More Social Networking Articles
Social Networking: the Five Biggest Mistakes Nichepreneurs? Make
Over half of all Americans between the ages of 15-34 consider themselves active social network users. They regularly visit well-known social networking sites, such as MySpace or Facebook, or log onto specialty social networks, like Ravelry (devoted to the fiber arts) or GroupRecipes (for the foodie set). While industry research tells us that television watching is declining, especially among this age group, social network use is on the rise: average users spend seven to eight hours a week online.
This time spent on social networks clearly affects buying decisions. An estimated forty percent of all social networkers say they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products they like, according to GreenBiz.com, with twenty-eight percent saying they’ve had a brand or product recommended to them by a friend.
The message is clear. Strategic use of social networking can help a company grow. It’s an effective use of target marketing, reaching out to one’s customers where they are.
However, in order to capitalize on social networking’s power, you have to do it right. Execution is everything. Make no mistake. Every time you log onto Facebook, MySpace, or other social networking platform, you’re representing your company in a very visible arena. The world is, quite literally, watching.
There are five common mistakes Nichepreneurs™ make when it comes to social networking. Here’s what they are — and more importantly, how to avoid them!
Mistake #1: Dismissing Social Networking as “Just a Fad”
Social networking may have emerged as a phenomenon only recently, but it is a manifestation of something as old as time — word of mouth! Customers value the opinions of colleagues, relatives, peers and friends above almost anything else. This has been true for generations. Social networking has merely expanded the definition of friend. Technology has made it easier to communicate with more people than ever before — a person could have hundreds of friends they’ve never once met in person. That’s a power and a privilege that no one is going to let just fade away.
Mistake #2: Mistaking Social Networking for Advertising
Social networking is a form of relationship marketing. It works best when you view it as an opportunity to build your brand, a prime platform to let your customer base know who you are and what you represent.
At the same time, you’ve got a fantastic chance to learn about your customers. If you actually stop and read what they post, you’ll learn a tremendous amount about who your customers are and what’s important to them. Where else do you get your customer’s pure, unvarnished opinions served up to you on a silver platter?
Don’t spoil this prime market research opportunity with unwelcome advertising. It’s fine to let people know you’re in business, but that can’t be the only thing you bring to the conversation.
Mistake #3: Failing to Connect Online Interaction with Real World Consequences
This mistake is often a generational problem. Nichepreneurs who grew up before the Internet was such an omnipresent force can have a hard time understanding how words on a computer screen can have real consequences on the every day course of business.
Compounding the problem is the fun, freewheeling atmosphere prevalent on many social networking platforms. It’s easy to forget the potential results when the commentary’s flying fast and furious. However, your words can come back and haunt you later. Remember — it all counts! The days where an organization can dismiss poor behavior with “It’s just the internet” are long gone!
Mistake #4: Using Sock Puppets
Sock puppets is the term applied to social networking accounts that are created with the intent of hiding the poster’s true identity. Individuals often create sock puppets in an effort to avoid the real life consequences discussed in mistake number three!
Sock puppets can be used to boost, support, or defend a company’s position. Conversely, they can be used to tear down, disparage, or make negative commentary about a competitor’s organization, products, or services.
Either way, it is a bad idea! Many denizens of social networks are incredibly tech-savvy, and it won’t take them long at all to discover who is really behind a string of negative or hostile commentary. Exposure can be a public relations nightmare.
Honesty is the best policy. Either be willing to own your commentary, by posting under your own identity, or don’t say them at all!
Mistake #5: Overestimating Social Networking’s Role
Social networking is powerful. It is influential. It is, in many cases, free to participate in. However, it is NOT the end all, be all solution to your marketing needs. While it is tempting to try to solve many of your marketing challenges with social networking, it is important to remember that social networking is a tool, not the only tool.
Use social networking efforts to augment your existing marketing efforts. There are small, start up companies that market themselves solely via social networking. However, this is a self-limiting strategy: even if you reach every single person on that network, you’re still missing out on a large number of potential customers who never log on.
Keep your perspective. Social networking might not eat into your budget, but it does take time. Realize that at best, social networking can significantly augment and enhance your marketing and promotional efforts — but it will never wholly replace it!
Social Networking for Online Promotion
By : Jonathan Haryanto
Social networking is increasingly popular, and have become wildly popular with a varied demographic. The birth of the social networking phenomenon has seen a shift in the way that many people browse the web, and especially in the way that people interact socially. Bebo, Facebook, Flickr, Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter are among other plethora of social networking sites out there on the net. They seem to have become unavoidable, and spring up wherever you go.
Everything about social networking is based on the profile. People spend hours updating their profiles just to let the world know whatever they happen to be doing. It seems that everyone is trying to live as their own mini celebrity, and suddenly everyone want to know your intimate details on everything from your address and date of birth to your musical tastes. The desire to have the most friends, or the most hits, makes people scramble to get as many friends as they can, even if they’ve never met the person. They add a vast swathe of plugins while bloggers and YouTube video makers are all trying to score as many hits as possible.
Each month there are billions of page views of ‘Web 2.0′ websites as people return time and time again to Social Networking Sites (SNS) like Facebook and MySpace, Social Media sites like YouTube and Blogger and Social Information sites like Wikipedia and Delicious. Cagora has recently launched the first Global Community Network consisting of more than 20,000 local and special interest communities that appeal to all generations. Cagora goes beyond Social Networking, Social Media and Social Information to provide Community Networking, Community Media and Community Information where Individuals , Businesses and Community Groups are all part of the same network.
The popularity of social networks has spurred many website owners to develop their own social networking website or to integrate social networking into their existing website. There are many reasons why you would want to build a social networking website or add one to your existing website. You may want to integrate social networking into your existing website to drive more traffic and expand your user base. Or if you have a company or group, you may want to benefit from a virtual pace to hangout, communicate, and share ideas, content, and files.
Whatever your reason, there are many social networking software platforms that offer distinct features to create your own social networking website, either independently or in conjunction with an existing website. Some are incredibly easy to use but offer limited customization while others require extensive technical knowledge but can run seamlessly with your website. With a little technical knowledge it is relatively easy to fully customize your own social network and even integrate it into your existing website. You also have the option to pay designers to create the perfect social networking add-on for your website. Most will also offer just about every imaginable feature you could want for your social network, making sure you do not loose out on functionality.
Some remotely hosted solutions give you the ability to customize your network’s URL so visitors to your existing site get a sense of congruence as they navigate from your main site to your social networking platform. They give webmasters more intricate control over layout by allowing webmasters to manipulate HTML headers, footers, and CSS styling. Although they take more skill to use, once developed they give your social networking site a more seamless and professional look. Some also offer unlimited storage for pictures, videos, audio, and videos for free. With this, your members will not have to worry about running out of space when sharing content. Others, however, have limits on storage capacity depending on the plan you purchase.
GoingOn is one such social networking software platform that webmasters who are looking for an innovative solution to their social networking needs can use. GoingOn is relatively new, and still in BETA status, which means that not all the modules are currently performing to their potential, but it will be the most feature rich platform among its competitors. GoingOn is easy to set up and requires little technical knowledge. It is also built using open source software which means that it will have even more potential for features and add-ons over time. Like its competitors GoingOn offers a selection of membership options. The paid packages allow webmasters to control advertising while the free packages are controlled by GoingOn.
However, if you need a perfectly functioning platform now, Ning or Kickapps are better options. They are also easier to set up than GoingOn and offer different pricing plans, and have more advanced functionality that can be used as an add on to an existing website.
Advertising on a social networking website created with a remotely hosted platform can very easy to set up and use, while some require more technological skill to set up but the results are worth it if you have the skill or can afford a web designer that does. Some platforms offer innovative advertising programs, while others don’t offer much advertising flexibility. Creators can get total control over advertising including collecting revenue, wile some platforms offer no control at all. Some offer innovative widgets that make promoting your social network easy even on a viral level, others are limited in functionality. So be sure to compare features.
With this free willed disclosure of all kinds of personal information and the ability to so easily carve out your own webspace has really opened up the Internet to the masses and released it from the grip of the computer geek, thus become a hacker’s paradise. Your name, address, date of birth and in fact just about everything about you could become available to hackers to use as they please. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace could become platforms for more serious Trojan attacks. So far social network sites have been hit by relatively harmless worms, adware and phishing attacks. However, with the amount of personal data so readily available it is certainly feasible that online banking data and other sensitive information could become compromised.
search blogspot blogspot mp3 blogspot templates blogspot music blogspot layouts movie blogspot wordpress create blog
Blog Hosting – Get Your Own Blog
Get your own blog with one of these blog sites. Write about anything you want on your blog. These blog sites will help you.
Travel Blogs (3)
Top 10 Places To Write Your Blog (alphabetical)
There are many blog hosting sites on the Web where you can write your blog. Here are ten blog hosting sites that have the tools to make yours a great blog. These blog hosting sites let you add photos, videos and more to your blog.
Blogdrive – Free Blog Sites
Create a blog that is more like your own personal Web site. You can add photos, colors and anything else you like.
blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
Blogger – Create Your Blog Now
Add your thoughts to your blog every day. Add photos to make it better. Get comments from other people to find out what they think.
Blogstyles – Designs For Your Weblog
Templates to help you create a blog and make it in the style you want. You don’t have to go through the hassle of downloading graphics and designing your pages, use their templates and let them do it for you. Not a blog hosting service.
iAlmond – Free Photo Blogs
Create a homepage, blog and add photos. Your readers can also add comments to your photo blog.
JoeUser.com – Weblogs for the Average Joe
Create your blog, add posts and add photos to your blog. Track articles and user responses too.
LiveJournal – Simple To Use Blogging
Write stories or keep a blog online. Your blog can be completely private or you can share it with the world. Blog entries can include photos and music. Create a mini biography for your blog to make it more personal.
MindSay – The Blog Network
Create your own blog in a minute. Add photos too. Security settings to help you keep your blog private if you want to.
Myspace.com – A Place For Friends
Create a custom profile, add pictures, write blogs, send mail and IM’s.
Newblog, a New Way To Blog
As far as social networking sites go Newblog is very basic. The photo album is limited and finding friends is not made easy. The blog on the other hand is fabulous. You can even break your blog entries into categories which is a unique characteristic among social networking sites.
Open Diary – Real Life, Write Life
Get your own public or private blog. Add photos, change colors, backgrounds and just about anything else to make it look the way your want.
20six – Weblogs, Blogs via the Web
Blogging with photos and templates. Get a guestbook too so your readers can leave comments.
Xanga – The Weblog Community
Get your own fully customizable blog. Upload photos, post blog entries, format and customize your posts and pages. Connect with friends.
b2
Write long entries even if they span several pages. Enter your entries by writing what you want to say and clicking a button. This software makes creating a weblog easy.
Backwash
These are categorized into groups by what they are about. Sign up and get your own weblog now and join a community at the same time.
BlogExplosion – Blog Community
Blogging community where you can create a blog about anything you want and have other people read and comment on your blog.
Diarist.com – Free Online Diaries and Blogs
Get your own online diary or blog for free. It can be private or public and you get a short domain name to go with it.
DiaryLand.com – Easy Online Diary
Create your own online diary and add entries easily. Lock it up to keep it private or leave it public so others can read it.
The Facebook – For College Students
A way for college students to keep track of friends, friends friends and other things. Find out who’s on Facebook at your school and get in touch with them.
Greymatter – Weblog / Journal Software
Completely free and opensource. Easy to use and includes lots of options for you to use.
Health Diaries: Health Information With Personality
“Health Diaries is a community of health-related diaries and blogs. People can start their own diaries or just come and read others’ diaries to glean first-person health information.”
iVillage Blogs
iVillage is a place for women. If you want to blog about dating, children, motherhood or anything else women are interested you can put your blog here.
MindDeposit.com – Take Blogging To a Deeper Level
“MindDeposit lets you take blogging to a deeper level. To take your creative, inspired, fleeting thoughts and make them meaningful, transformative and enduring. We designed this free site specifically to help you develop, cultivate and create, or even reinvent, your “self”.”
Mocha City Blogs – Blog, Photos, IM
“The Mocha Members Directory allows members the ability to share photos, create blog journals, communicate with instant messaging, group chat, and build personal web pages.”
Movable Type – Web Based Weblog and Journal Publishing
This is free as long as you are using it for personal use only. Great for Web sites that get updated frequently like online diaries and photo journals. If you donate a fee you will be given special privileges.
Typepad Blog
Design features so you can have a good looking blog. Easy to use tool so you can change the way your text looks. Helps you connect your blog to the Web. Receive and manage blog comments.
Find More Blogging Articles
How to Create Niche Business Social Networking Sites
Social networking is the buzz word in today’s Internet space. With lots and lots of people getting into Social networking everyday, many wise online marketers are creating their own Social networking websites. However, with many online marketers getting into Social networking, it is necessary to highlight your social networking website to avoid getting lost in the crowd. For this you have to offer your users with something unique and useful.
Provide the users with interactive Social networking Softwares
Do you know the reason behind the huge popularity of the social networking websites like myspace and face book? One of the reason is that they provide some interactive, useful social networking softwares. Unlike other softwares that needs to be downloaded to the users computer (which most of them do not prefer), these social networking softwares doesn’t need to be downloaded. These web based social networking softwares are gaining popularity these days because of the ease of use. As there are no compatibility problems associated with these social networking softwares, anyone can use it.
Creating Social networking software for your own Business Social Networking Website
When it comes to creating a social networking software, you will come up with a question “Should I Build my Own Social Networks Software?” Just keep reading on to find the answer. You can create the social networking software for your website by yourself if:
1. You are a skilled programmer.
2. Have lots of time to spare to spend on researching the trends in the Social media.
3. Are able to identify the user needs and satisfy them
The users of any websites will become unpleasant if the site takes long time to load. Moreover, the error messages are the ones that make the users of your social networking website more irate. Once the error message shows up to any user of your social networking website, they will never return back to your website. If you are a no vice programmer, trying to add or build social networking softwares, then your social networking softwares will be more error prone. All of these factors will be rather overwhelming to you if you are not a skilled programmer. Yet creating your own social networking software for your social networking website is not impossible.
Getting professional help for building Social Networking softwares
There is nothing to worry even if you don’t have the above said requirements for building social networking software. The professional social networking web designers are capable of building unique social networking softwares too. There are so many ready made social networking softwares also. All you have to do is to pick the right one that best fulfils your customer requirements. Getting social networking softwares built through programmers has many advantages. It saves much of your time and money along with enabling you to offer the users of your social networking website with some great interactive social networking software.
Find More Social Networking Articles
Top 3 Social Networking Web Design Tips
We have seen many social networking sites to gain quick popularity while a very few didn’t make it up to the mark. With almost one year now, through which the social networking websites gained ultimate popularity, now is the ideal time to look into the successful social networks for some unique social networking web design tips. Here are 5 main points that has to be noted for a successful social networking website design.
3. Learning from the mistakes that other social networks have made
As already said, while many social networking sites like myspace, Facebook etc have gained popularity, a few other social networking sites have disappeared in the Internet crowd. As the old saying goes, “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” Hence it’s necessary to learn from the mistakes that the other social networks made. One of the biggest mistakes that some of the social networking web designers make is overloading their web page with heavy graphics. They have a misconception that attracting visitors to social networking website depends all on eye candy. Loading a web page with heavy graphics will end up in longer load times. The visitors of your website won’t be patient enough to wait for the page to load. This will make the visitors quit from the page and they never return to your social networking website. Hence make the social networking web design simple and user friendly.
2. Increase the interactivity of your Social Networking website
With the advancements in online marketing and SEO techniques, driving visitors to your social networking website is easy today. It’s upto the effective social networking web design to make the visitors spend some time in your site and also become returning users. For this, some interactive stuff must be added to the social networking website. Apart from the common social networking features like making friends and exchanging messages some other interactive fun stuff can be added to the social networking website. The social networking softwares come in handy here. There are many social networking software that can be used in your social networking website, which will be fun for the users. They will be pleased to return to your site to use the social networking applications and moreover, they will refer your site to their fiends too.
1. Be unique
Social networking websites are emerging like mushrooms today. At this point, just think in a social networking users point to view. With thousands of social networking websites out there, why should they choose your social networking website? The answer is simple “Make it unique”. Provide the visitors of your social networking website something that the similar networks haven’t offered. Be sure that the unique offerings at your social networks are useful too.
Bottom line
People consider privacy much more important than anything today. Hence it is essential for your social networking web design to ensure the privacy of the visitors of your site.
Social networking is rapidly becoming the most preferred Web 2.0 marketing tool. If you are engaged in selling your products or services online, there is plenty you can do with social networking sites to promote your business. However, the possibilities are accompanied by inevitable pitfalls. Here are a few things to keep in mind in order to raise your effectiveness when using social networking sites. Rule #1 – One site or many: While many organizations prefer to maintain their presence on several social networking sites, it can take up considerable amount of time as well as staff resources. Determine the amount of time you can spend updating your profile on each site. It’s far more effective to spend extra time and energy maintaining a high profile on one, well-chosen site rather than spend precious hours juggling different operating platforms on too many different sites. If you do choose to maintain a presence on multiple sites, make sure you assign a full-time staff to regulate your various profiles. This could include posting comments on other member’s pages, inviting other people to become friends, or accepting other friend’s requests. In the absence of regular care, your web page is sure to languish.
Video Rating: 4 / 5