Niches are the future of social networking

I read a couple of posts today which deepened my belief that the future of social networking lies in niches. First there’s the recent news from investor Jeff Clavier that his social networking investment, Dogster, is already in the black. The simple feature of adding friends (even if they’re dogs) seems like it could be used to some degree in all web applications. For instance, VC Fred agrees with Marc Canter’s idea that “faces are a key component of social media and networking - and any software that doesn’t display a user’s face - is uncomplete.” Social networking becomes even more important when you realize that, if used correctly, it is probably the single best way to virally market a good product without cost or effort.

By “used correctly” I mean that you should build your web apps so that the experience is obviously enhanced when people invite their friends. There’s a definite spectrum of effectiveness for social networking. For instance, MySpace is using the concept to its fullest since the whole point of their site is to invite friends, search for friends, meet new friends, etc. On the other hand, a news site like Digg seems like a less obvious choice for a social networking component since the adding of friends isn’t essential to the experience. Still, the idea of community is essential for a news site, and Digg is almost nailing that (they just need user pictures).

I have to mention one brilliant social networking service I found via VC Fred called MyBlogLog. They astutely realized that every blog is actually a network, and therefore could benefit from allowing readers to upload their pictures and profiles. It’s a very cool thing for a writer to feel like they have their own little club, to be able to see their audience and have a more personal connection to them, and these are the feelings MyBlogLog taps into. They brilliantly made it super easy to add the service to your blog without requiring that users sign up before they post comments; in fact, a commenter can come back later and claim a comment by signing up. Their pic will be automaticaly inserted into the blog’s comments after the fact (OMG, no barriers, so brilliant!). If they added the ability to skin your blog’s social network, they would rule the blogosphere. MyBlogLog is such a good idea that I can’t believe the insightful peeps over at 9rules didn’t think of it (Scrivs, it’s not too late).

One space ripe for a social network is phone service. We have it to some degree with voip inside chat networks, but there are interesting attempts by a new breed of voip companies to make social networking the primary marketer of their services; Jajah and Hullo are two examples. They both offer better free service if you add friends. Neither has nailed it yet, but they are sniffing around the sweet spot. The have the right idea about social networking, but they don’t yet have the right mix of features that users want. If Jajah could mix their service with something like GrandCentral, they would most definitely have something wildly viral.

In the end, I think Paul Graham is absolutely right when he says that there is always space left for startups (and I would add, especially) in regards to social networking. It’s strange to think that the best social networks may well be yet to come.