Some interesting dishes on the Social Networking Menu

I. Vertical Social Networking

I have been always fascinated by the power of internet in today’s marketing, sales and

advertisement spheres and found the concept of “Vertical Social Networking” very compelling in terms of target audience. Some experts even believe this to be next logical step in evolution of social networking.

“Vertical social networks are those that target a very specific set of users, rather than mass audience. The litmus test is that the users are connecting about something, and that something is not so broad that it would appeal to most of a particular demographic. Some great examples are yourrunning.com (running enthusiasts), fropper.com (Indian dating site) and dogster.com (dog lovers). Sites like linkedin.com (business), last.fm (music), or godspace.com (religion) are not be confused as vertical in nature - they’re targeting very broad audiences that could almost be considered generic” – David Cohen

Here are a couple of articles I found worth getting an intro into this concept.

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3626970

http://www.genuinevc.com/archives/2006/02/vertical_social.htm