• by Lydia Loizides , Op-Ed Contributor, January 17, 2007

So last week it was the Consumer Electronics Show. This week it is NATPE.  I am hoping to actually stay home next week for more than three days--but it isn't looking good. But enough about me. Let's talk about where technology, media and brands are meeting on the online street.

 I am going out on a limb here by saying that I am tired of talking about MySpace and YouTube--that is yesterday's news (even if most of Madison Ave. and Hollywood are obsessed with these sites).  The future lies in understanding how and what these, and other, mass-appeal social networks will morph into. While we obsess over the reach of the likes of YouTube, the social networks and fan culture community is fragmenting before our very eyes. And therein lays the problem--but also the opportunity. 

Mass is great if you are Sony Pictures but not if you are, say Purina or producers of the "Dog Whisperer." Why? Because you need pet lovers, not some nameless, faceless age or media demographic.  Consider this: Dogster.com closed a $1million dollar round of investments this last September. So what, you say? Well, think about this for your clients: according to an article on investment Web site Investopedia, "[The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA)] estimates that, in total, Americans spent $36 billion on their pets in 2005. More than a third of all Americans are pet owners. With more than 65 million dogs and 77 million cats in the United States, some 39% of households include a dog and 34% have at least one cat, according to a 2003-2004 national survey by [APPMA]."

Yes, that was $36 billion in one year.  Now, bend your mind a bit and consider this: these pet owners are also car owners, home owners, cosmetics buyers, grocery shoppers-- well, you get it. But today's thinking is that advanced media or new media for a brand like Purina, is a MySpace page. Excuse me? When did communications and marketing come to rely on a one-trick pony? Where is the logic in that? The thinking about how and where to reach brand loyalists needs to start looking not only at new sources but also looking at who they are beyond the single passion or brand that has been identified.

So the long and the short of it is this: get over the mass, focus on the niche, and for goodness sake, understand that by the time you understand what social networks are today, they will have passed you by, and it will be tomorrow (mobile social networks are . already on the rise). Don't agree? You tell me.

Other Niche Social Web Sites To Investigate

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Catster ( www.catster.com): A site for cat lovers and their friends.

Dogster ( www.dogster.com): A site for dog lovers and their friends.

Hamsterster (www.hamster ster.com): A site for hamster and gerbil lovers and their friends.

Zebo ( www.zebo.com): A site for people to list what they own.

SnowboardGang (www.snow boardgang.com): A site for snowboarders.

WiredBerries (www.wired berries.com): A site for women interested in health.

Vox ( www.vox.com): A private blogging site run by Six Apart, which also runs LiveJournal.

Windows Live Spaces (spaces. live.com): Microsoft's social networking and blogging site.

Yahoo 360 (360.yahoo.com): Yahoo's social networking and blogging site.

AOL Hometown (hometown. aol.com): AOL's social networking and blogging site.

Yelp ( www.yelp.com): A site for people to review local businesses.

Bebo ( www.bebo.com): A popular social networking site for teens in the United Kingdom.

Cyworld (us.cyworld.com): Founded in South Korea, the social networking site launched in the United States this year.

deviantART (www.deviant art.com): A social networking site for artists.

Mojizu ( www.mojizu.com): An online community for artists and their characters.

XuQa (xuqa.com): An online social networking game.

myYearbook (www.myyearbook. com): A social networking site.