{"id":2727,"date":"2011-10-15T10:56:33","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T14:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/?p=2727"},"modified":"2021-10-19T06:48:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T10:48:31","slug":"exploring-the-social-networking-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/exploring-the-social-networking-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring The Social Networking World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook<\/a>, Twitter, and probably soon Google+<\/a>, get most of the analysis of the social networking world.\u00a0 With that comes most of the attention of advertisers.\u00a0 This is the billion-user World Wide Web, though.\u00a0 For every bar that all the cool kids are hanging out at, there are plenty of local bars near them with people spending money the same as anyone else.<\/p>\n

These local hangouts, though, can often be a little less friendly to marketing sharks.\u00a0 Let’s face it, too: you’re not interested in being one.\u00a0 You just want to advertise your services to people who might honestly be interested.\u00a0 Even the local dives have ads posted in them.\u00a0 To do so simply requires that you understand the scene, and treat it with respect.<\/p>\n

So let’s drop the metaphor and look at some of the smaller but still popular social networking sites.\u00a0 For our purposes we are going to focus on native English sites that mostly have at least 1 million users.\u00a0 If you can speak other languages then there are many very large ones that represent good alternate markets.<\/p>\n

CafeMom<\/strong><\/p>\n

CafeMom<\/a> has been growing tremendously, and is on the verge of breaking through \u201cniche\u201d status to become one of the web’s bigger players.\u00a0 An outgrowth of ClubMom, this social networking site panders to the moms who need an outlet that they can share with other moms (men are specifically barred from registering).\u00a0 General socializing happens here, but also advice and support for just about every mothering need out there.<\/p>\n

What the advertiser should know<\/span><\/em>: CafeMom is very advertiser friendly.\u00a0 If you are offering a physical product of some kind, you should consider sending free samples: this is one of the draws the site uses to get people to register.\u00a0 Remember that the goal of this site is to make the lives of the mothers there easier.\u00a0 Make sure that whatever you are advertising is geared towards that, even if indirectly.<\/p>\n

Care2<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a sign of how huge the World Wide Web has become that a site with 14 million users is considered 2nd-tier.\u00a0 Care2 hasn’t rushed to growth, but has been slowly building their user base since 1998.\u00a0 The reason is that this is not a site that puts profits first.\u00a0 Care2<\/a> is a social networking site for activists.\u00a0 It allows individuals to work with each other, discuss issues, and most importantly find concrete ways to channel their energies into effective social change.<\/p>\n

What the advertiser should know<\/span><\/em>: Care2 takes their commitment to social values seriously.\u00a0 This includes their approach to advertisements.\u00a0 They have on their site a long explanation of what their advertising principles are.\u00a0 Read it.\u00a0 Make sure you can convince them that you will enhance their site, not just draw from it. One minor marketing addendum: according to the site’s founder, Care2’s user base is also mostly female.<\/p>\n

Link Expats<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you measure the success of a web site by how well it fulfills the Web’s potential of bringing disparate people together, this is about as successful as it gets.\u00a0 Link Expats<\/a> is a place for people who are removed from their home country for any reason to find each other, talk, and assist each other.<\/p>\n

What the advertiser should know<\/span><\/em>: While some of the reasons that someone would be a member of this site are benign, some are (literally) deadly serious.\u00a0 This site as a result has strong privacy protections.\u00a0 Users can’t even friend each other, but they can ban one another easily for spamming.\u00a0 Get the idea?\u00a0 Follow the site’s rules to a T, and don’t push.<\/p>\n

deviantART<\/strong><\/p>\n

deviantART<\/a> is one of the longest running and best supported amateur artist social networking sites in existence.\u00a0 Just about every type of 2D art is represented, and with 14 million members, just about every demographic is represented.\u00a0 There isn’t that much in the way of large communal spaces: chat rooms are the only thing this site has that fulfills that function.\u00a0 Most of the interaction occurs on the pages of artists and their works.<\/p>\n

What the advertiser should know<\/span><\/em>: Ads are only visible to users who don’t upgrade to premium memberships.\u00a0 That doesn’t look to be a small demographic on this site any time soon, though (reference the term \u201cstarving artist\u201d).\u00a0 In fact, it’s large enough that you can almost treat this like a \u201cnormal\u201d demographic distribution of users, albeit one with a bit of geeky edge to it.\u00a0 Anything either tech-oriented or counterculture-leaning should find an audience here.<\/p>\n

Stickam<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might have used this site before and not realized it.\u00a0 Stickam is one of the premier media sharing sites on the web, with a particular focus on streaming video.\u00a0 Because the demand for this kind of service is quickly growing, and because they make embedding easy, Stickam winds up often quietly embedded in other web sites.\u00a0 If a site you use has recently addedy a video chat room, check the credits: it’s possibly a Stickam room.<\/p>\n

What the advertiser should know<\/span><\/em>: Stickam has worked heavily with major media kings like MTV and CBS Radio.\u00a0 This gives it a bit of a MySpace feel: if you know the kind of demographic that comparison brings to mind, then you know about what to expect.\u00a0 If you don’t, we’ll sum it up: a culturally diverse group of mostly beginner to intermediate web users (this is a broad stroke: please don’t take offense Stickam wizards) who probably are used to seeing web advertising.\u00a0 This is with one catch: many chat rooms are adult-oriented.\u00a0 Be sure you’re OK with this.<\/p>\n

VampireFreaks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It may seem like we’re just fulfilling some editorial requirement of including one \u201cstrange\u201d site by closing with these guys.\u00a0 This isn’t so much that case.\u00a0 It’s more to hammer home the point that sometimes you are dealing with a very specific subculture, and you need to know how to approach them with respect.<\/p>\n

VF servers the \u201cGothic Industrial Culture\u201d.\u00a0 If you don’t know what this is then it’s hard to describe it without resorting to obnoxious stereotypes.\u00a0 Consider it those who like to \u201cplay in the dark\u201d, in just about every meaning that this phrase might bring to mind.\u00a0 The name itself is likely a \u201cscaring the normal\u201d point of pride jab.\u00a0 If this description in any way weird you out, you should probably look elsewhere.<\/p>\n

What the advertiser should know<\/span><\/em>: This is a very self-aware demographic.\u00a0 Thus it’s best to neither approach them with a typical suit-and-tie motif nor try to pretend you’re a part of this crowd, assuming you’re not.\u00a0 Despite the very showy appearance of this crowd, believe it when we say that they’ll respect you the more real you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook, Twitter, and probably soon Google+, get most of the analysis of the social networking world.\u00a0 With that comes most of the attention of advertisers.\u00a0 This is the billion-user World…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[268],"class_list":["post-2727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo-sem","tag-social-networking"],"views":166,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}