The numbers are hard to ignore. Comscore, an internet information provider, has this to say about social networking giants MySpace and facebook in their article on Measuring Social Networking Sites.
Social networking behemoth MySpace.com attracted more than 114 million global visitors age 15 and older in June 2007, representing a 72-percent increase versus year ago. Facebook.com experienced even stronger growth during that same time frame, jumping 270 percent to 52.2 million visitors. Bebo.com (up 172 percent to 18.2 million visitors) and Tagged.com (up 774 percent to 13.2 million visitors) also increased by orders of magnitude.
And then this from Comscore's "More than Half of MySpace Visitors are Now Age 35 or Older, as the Site's Demographic Composition Continues to Shift"
Visitors to MySpace.com and Friendster.com generally skew older, with people age 25 and older comprising 68 and 71 percent of their user bases, respectively. Meanwhile, Xanga.com has a younger user profile, with 20 percent of its users in the 12-17 age range, about twice as high as that age segment's representation within the total Internet audience. Not surprisingly, Facebook.com, which began as a social networking site for college students, also draws a younger audience. More than one-third (34 percent) of visitors to Facebook.com are 18-24 years old, approximately three times the representation of that age segment in the general Internet population.
Here is a good example of how social networking sites serve as a business generating tool for a specific industry--in this case- apparel retail, as seen in cnn.com's article "Social Networking Sites Represent an Attractive Venue for Advertising Apparel Products"
More than 95 percent of heavy social networkers visited retail sites in August, compared to 80 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience. These heavy social networkers exhibited a particularly high tendency to visit the more leisure-oriented retail categories, including those featuring entertainment (music, tickets, books and movies), fashion (apparel, jewelry/luxury goods/accessories), and retail technology (consumer electronics, computer software and hardware).
What this means to small business owners is that social networking sites are no longer simply the realm of companies targeting students or teens. Growth in all the major social networking sites reflects an increased usage among an expanding and diverse market demographic.
Where should you start? Like anything else, after doing your homework. In some cases it might simply mean setting up a page, and start tapping into your immediate network found in that particular site. Unlike a full blown website, a social networking site is a way for people to actually connect and learn more about you while keeping it "intimate" by restricting you to the people you "know" or people who know people you know ... like a massive six degrees to Kevin Bacon game but with you being Kevin Bacon. On the other hand these sites also open the door for you to create a whole network based on an interest or a hobby- one MySpace page is dedicated to the green ipod nano http://www.myspace.com/greennano. Although this page was not created by Apple, it does still receive its share of "friends".
Here is what you should be asking yourself before you venture forth.
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Where are your customers/vendors/competitors? You want to be where the largest number of your constituency or target market are.
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Do you have the time to manage and update your page/network?
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If you are using the site as a way to increase business (rather than a personal networking tool) you should make sure that your "image" remains professional - i.e. no killing zombies or poking fun at people on facebook. It is unfortunate but for now there is not a way for you to separate your "persona's" in such a way that people would see a different you if they were a different categorized contact (i.e. business vs. old classmate).
Additionaly, Cristopher Allen's Review of LinkedIn, tribe.net, and friendster is hard to beat with its level of detail and depth.
http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2003/12/evaluating_soci.html
