Community Connect was ahead of the game few years ago with BlackPlanet.com. Their niche site, launched in 1999, had the standard social networking tools allowing member to design their own page, invite friends and email members, but they also developed other channels like a Job Market (partnership with Monster.com), and later on a subscription based dating section for serious minded singles looking for their soul mate. They have recently added a Digg-like News section, Groups, Music and Style sections. Another site, MySpace (anyone ever heard of them? I think that they will be pretty big), is slowly creating more channels to their site. As of today there is a Film, Comedy, and Classifieds section. Bebo, another big SN player, in partnership with Amazon is experimenting selling books online.
Communities like MySpace morphed themselves from a purely social networking site, to an “entertainment social network” (thanks to their music section) and are now moving to becoming a “social portal” that offers a variety of services similar to Yahoo’s offering. Humans are not only utilizing social networks to stay in touch with friends and connect with new people; they are also exploring music, comedy, videos, classifieds and are open to much more. Ok, so they are exploring free content/services, but would members pay for premium services like Yahoo’s dating and music services? Depending on the service and demographics of the social network, of course they would. Why login to multiple sites for different needs when you can consolidate and enjoy a slew of services and content on one site, especially if it is the site that you already spend the most time on.
Time will tell…
Peace.
