Social Networking Sites. Why it can be useful to have your very own facebook-like website

Often, more and more social networking sites are appearing on the web. But the majority of popularity has fallen upon Facebook and secondly, Myspace.

These community sites have the edge of early entry to the marketplace and have established themselves as the leaders of the pack. Myspace is generally for a younger audience who enjoys audio and multimedia more so than updates on their friends.

Facebook has developed in to the useful site where viewers are more interested in updates from their friends list. In addition there is an unlimited supply of web programs that have made Facebook inspiring and practical.

So where do we go socially with this on the web? Well with Facebook, you can have a FAN or COMPANY Page to help promote your group and/or business. You can also set up forums where people can gather online to share and discuss certain matters.

One simple weakness that Facebook has is that it is too general. Meaning, it is an online meeting place with no specific group or niche, unless determined by forums which don't offer that many choices for online promotions. So on Facebook, you can encounter anyone of any type, shape, ethnicity, age, location, etc. There is not a focus or requirement to join this global community.

And this is where a small beginning social networking site can have an advantage. By creating a site that specializes on a certain genre (say for example, young people who are fans of football), you can create a specific community that like-minded people can become a member of and meet other similar people. So what steps do I take next?

A company like Media One Pro develop a site using open-source such as Ning. By utilizing a developer/company who uses a third-party program that is already built and supported, you can save thousands of dollars from having to develop the program on your own.
A great benefit of owning your own social networking website is that you can control all of the advertising on it.

This allows many various options for revenue streams. Another advantage is to have simple access to the membership database. With a pre-built mailing list, you can advertise your product or service to a niche audience that have entered the community for exactly what you are offering.

The trend is for more focused facebook-like sites and those who take advantage of early on this advantageous situation will have the good luck of making and selling to their own community.

Article Source: http://www.knowaboutyourself.com

Steven Kim, aka Dr. SEO, is an Expert Internet Marketer who works in Las Vegas, NV and Portland, OR. He specializes in Search Engine Optimization, as well as Video and Local Search Optimization. See more of him at Media One Pro

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