Popular social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, are changing the human fabric of the Internet. Match.com and eHarmony are closely behind.
MySpace, with 70 million visitors, has become the digital equivalent of hanging out at the mall for today's teens, who populate the site with photos, news about music groups and detailed profiles of their likes and dislikes. Other social network sites include Facebook, geared to college students, LinkedIn, aimed at professionals, and Xanga, a blog-based community site. In all, an estimated 300 sites, including smaller ones such as StudyBreakers for high schoolers and Photobucket, a site for posting images, make up the social network universe.
Internet has always been about numbers!
MySpace, with its 70 million users, ranks second behind Yahoo in pages viewed and time spent on the site. Facebook, founded by a 21-year-old student on leave from Harvard and backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists, has 7.3 million registered users.
What is the future, you may ask.
For the moment, MySpace and Facebook are hot. News Corp. paid $580 million last year for MySpace as part of a $1.3 billion Internet acquisition spree. Facebook just received an additional $25 million in venture capital.
Both companies are planning to extend their reach beyond the computer screen to cell phones. Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless in the US are starting a service that will allow users to post messages on Facebook's home pages or search for other users' phone numbers and email addresses from a cell phone. MySpace has a pact with Helio, a wireless joint venture between SK Telecom and Earthlink, that will allow users to send photos and update their blogs or profiles by cell phone.
Where is the beef?
Social networking sites in general rely mainly on a simple advertising model, selling banner and text ads (akin to Google). Facebook also permits sponsored groups in which a marketer can build communities within the site. BusinessWeek recently reported that Facebook had rejected a $750 million buyout offer and was holding out for $2 billion.
And that is some incentive for social networking sites. Interested in building one? Email info@cyber-gear.com.
|
