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Four Business Lessons for Niche Social Networks: CIO

By Dave Iannone - Posted on January 28th, 2008
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CIO is really covering niche social networks with a passion in recent weeks, with a new article today on the business lessons from launching and managing a niche social network.

If the social networking space was like college, MySpace and Facebook would be the big men on campus. And naturally, lurking behind these beefy juggernauts is a clique of nerds—the niche social networks—and from chess clubs to history teams, these "90-pound weaklings" are quietly demonstrating the vast potential of social networking and showing how businesses can better utilize social networks for their employees.

What are the lessons? Well you can read them all in the latest article by C. G. Lynch in today's story, but here's a quick glimpse:

  • The Users Come First; The Technology, Second
  • Encouraging Accountability by Controlling Access
  • Achieving Work-Life Balance 
  •  Make It Highly Customizable

Yours truly gives my take on the last bullet point based on my experience thus far running FirefighterNation.com, a social net for firefighters and first responders.

Some other comments from the piece:

Due to their smaller size, administrators at niche sites can monitor user interactions more closely and ensure people follow the rules of engagement. As a result, the creators of these sites argue that users become more accountable for what they post and how they interact with the site.

Facebook and MySpace has been criticized as being too playful for work, while LinkedIn, with its black-and-white resumes and limited inventory of widgets, has been seen as too boring. Niche social networks, on the other hand, have been able to strike a balance between the personal and professional.

Read the full story now on CIO.com:  Four Business Lessons from Niche Social Networks

Niche social networks represent the future of social networking online, offering an unmatched targeted user experience for their members. Whether you are a Boy Scout troop with just a few dozen members or a major magazine or vertical with tens of thousands of users, NicheSocials is geared at connecting you with your peers to share ideas, get informed and grow ... grow ... grow your niche social network.