Exploring the Niche Social Networks
So what are these niche social platforms that we’re talking about? Table 13-1 outlines the top 15 social networking platforms as of December 2011 according to eBizMBA, a marketing research company. Keep in mind that although this categorization uses the term social networks very loosely, it still excludes user-generated content (UGC) video sites such as YouTube. Table 13-1 displays the see the Alexa rank of and number of unique visitors to the 15 most popular social networking platforms. The Alexa rank is a three-month measure of such things as page views and visitors to give you an idea of the most viewed sites online.
Table 13-1 The Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites
|
Social Networking Platform |
August 2011 Unique Visitors (000) |
Alexa Rank |
|
|
700,000 |
2 |
|
|
200,000 |
9 |
|
|
100,000 |
17 |
|
MySpace |
80,500 |
79 |
|
Ning |
60,000 |
128 |
|
Google + |
32,000 |
n/a |
|
Tagged |
25,000 |
141 |
|
orkut |
15,500 |
93 |
|
hi5 |
11,500 |
62 |
|
myYearbook |
7,450 |
1,036 |
|
Meetup |
7,200 |
528 |
|
Badoo |
7,100 |
125 |
|
bebo |
7,000 |
588 |
|
mylife |
5,400 |
1,789 |
|
Friendster |
4,900 |
301 |
Arguably, by studying the monthly unique visitors and Alexa rank, you may wonder whether calling them niche platforms is even appropriate. They still have millions of unique visitors each month and are growing at a relatively brisk pace. For many people, niche social platforms are more valuable and personal ...
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