Most of the growth in the 1990s was thanks to adolescents uploading the minutiae of their lives to websites like LiveJournal or MySpace, and in the 2000s, we have seen the exponential growth of the mighty Facebook and Twitter.
The Future: More Specific Networks to cater to Specific Needs?
However, not all social networking sites are as general and as “open to all” as Facebook or Twitter, where anything can be discussed at any given time. For example, LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is “the world’s largest professional network”, and is aimed at a much more professional audience and network. It also has a paid service which allows you to see more of the website, search in detail for contacts and understand more about who views your profile.
AsianAvenue.com (www.asianvenue.com), MiGente.com (www.migente.com) and BlackPlanet.com (www.blackplanet.com) were launched in 1999 and are aimed at specific demographics which allows the community to feel more uniform and caters to their specific needs. They have been extremely popular and have survived over 10 years in the market despite huge competition from Facebook. The newly created Path.com (www.path.com) aims at turning upside down the concept of social networks. Launched on the App store on IPhone it is based on psychological research suggesting that 150 is the maximum number of social relationships that the human brain can sustain. Therefore the outer boundary of personal networks has been set to a maximum 50 friends.
Finally, LinkMyHome.com (www.linkmyhome.com),rather more sophisticated, is aimed at people with a love for their home, who regard its as an expression of their personality and who wish to share their passion online. In the LMH community, you can share photos and videos of your homes, showing them off to old and new friends. On top of all this, LinkMyHome.com provides an online market whereby homeowners willing to sell, rent or exchange their homes can showcase their properties and set up potential transactions. This service is available to all registered members and it is free.
