Social networking sites abound

Emily Riley | June 13, 2007, 09:32 PM

I’ve been briefed by a lot of new social networks that are launching. I’ve heard about (in no particular order) a site for doctors, a site for tweens, a music-based site, a site for artists, a site for people who want to run their own ads, and a site who has video that will “blow TV out of the water.” Social network startups are most interesting when it looks like they’ll actually be able to make money and/or provide consumers with something they really need, but aren’t getting. The vertical social networks for professionals seem intriguing to me. While their site traffic will never be huge, advertisers will pay through the nose for such great targeting. For the other startups, cooler features, hipper audiences or better widgets don’t seem to me like enough to dethrone the big guys.

Speaking of the big guys…we had a visit from Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook yesterday. Their new open platform has been gaining traction, mostly for the usual suspects of pictures, video and music. We asked about how consumers will be able to find “long tail” (I hate that phrase) widgets and programs as the list grows. We also asked how consumers will be sure to use the “best in class” of each category (you mean you are still using ILIKE???) The answer today is that the wisdom of the crowd will cause the message to spread. I think a search engine might be in order, however. Facebook has a great audience and now has the opportunity to become a very rich site as well, but they are a little hazy on how to scale premium advertising on the site, and are being pretty generous towards marketers who want to take advantage of the open platform.