• Ad Age, Tuesday, November 7, 2006 12:16 PM

If social networks are the new Web portals, then perhaps MySpace could become vulnerable to the user churn that's plagued Yahoo of late. MySpace isn't the only place on the Web for Gen Y to hang out, and for many users, it's no longer the only social network they use.

Multi-social networkers are becoming the norm, which is a bad thing for MySpace and Facebook, which depend on their "stickiness" to attract advertisers. The talk now is about whether the top two have reached their peak after faltering usage in the last month. MySpace can't be all things to all people, as Yahoo has learned.

"We believe it's better to be niche," says Benjamin Sun, the ambitious leader of Community Connect, creator of a suite of social networks aimed at different cultural groups. "Look at the real-world communities--they're made up of pockets of people with similar interests."

Community Connect is profitable and has been around longer than MySpace; among its properties: BlackPlanet, for African Americans, MiGente for the Latino community, Glee.com, for the gay and lesbian community, and AsianAvenue. Not all niche social networks are divided along those lines. Some, like 1Up.com, are aimed at the video game community. LinkedIn is for the business/networking crowd, while Joga Bonito is a Google- and Nike-created social network for soccer fanatics.

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