I was discussing all things web related with a friend and his wife yesterday and one of the topics that came up related to her interaction on the web. Now she spends as much time as I do online, however she has a very small number of activities and sites she visits. Her partner has a small blog that relates to parenting issues.
One of the sites she does spend a lot of time on is a parenting forum type site. On this site she has a lot of authority ranking in the sites top 20. When you consider there are over 10000 registered members, being in the top 20 is nothing to sneeze at – in fact she is now an administrator. What does this have to do with social networking? Good question.
Many months ago she invited me to join and I did, however I only pay passing attention to the site, mainly having a quick peek when she points something out to me. Our discussion yesterday centered around the types of discussions and questions that get asked. I had a closer look today and discovered that, despite being a parenting site, everything was discussed, even politics. Not only that, members quite often sent external links to each other. Now there is a social networking opportunity if ever I saw one.
These types of sites are good for getting feedback on various issues including products. Over time you can also drop links to your own sites – so long as you don’t spam. Social networking opportunities are everywhere now. Treat the sites as ‘social networks’ first, and marketing issues second.
