When we talk about starting a niche social network, we are talking of getting bigger, going further than a Facebook Group or App. Any company or organization can reach directly to their people from their own social networking platform, they just have to be ready! Consider this the following cases:

A NGO Social Network
ClickArboles.org. is one of WE-ME’s, a NGO from Argentina, latest campaigns. They found on social networking a great way to join both offline and online actions. They wanted to gather more people into tree growing and sharing experiences. That’s why they asked for help developing this social network. ClickArboles.org turned to be more than just a social network, but a new way of encouraging activism. WE-ME crew started planing new campaigns around social networking and it’s benefits. You wouldn’t believe people reaction when they hear they can found seeds, tools, plants and ground donors near their places online! A lot of new activists are out there, they just didn’t know how to get involved. There is also a great tool to engage companies into activism, they take part of the actions as they are recognized by the audience.



A Government Campaign
TAT 50’s Anniversary is a government initiative to celebrate the anniversary of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. They wanted to connect people around Thailand with one common goal: to promote tourism for the hole country. How to get every Thai involved was the main concern: giving prices, the answer. Participate and promote Thailand at the same time is possible uploading photos from each place. So there is now a campaign about to be launched with a lot of great prices to assure every citizen participation. The idea is simple: Citizens will upload their pictures as they get motivated by the prices and the final goal of the campaign, to promote tourism. Tourists from around the globe will get to know Thailand’s culture as they get caught by it’s landscapes. Easy and straight, with social media tools institutions have the capability to generate a unique campaign showing their products through the eyes of real users. Transparency and collaboration are keywords on social media developments like this.


Now, some important issues to consider during the process of gathering a niche social network:

First. Remember what Mark Zuckerberg, the young founder of Facebook, said when they asked him for advice on how he could build and own his community. He replied “You can’t.” and went on to explain that communities already exist and the question these magnates should ask instead is how they can help them to do what they want to do. Zuckerberg’s prescription was “elegant organisation”.

Then. When deciding on a niche remember to look for specific shared challenges, follow Ric Mazereeuw’s definition on Niche Social Networks: A group of people passionate about a shared experience, situation, goal, or pastime, but who don’t have an existing venue to easily connect with one another.

And last, but not least. Don’t you ever forget that maintaining the quality of information, content and interaction around the core subject of the community takes work and reward members who are creating value for the community, promote their content, and in turn allow them to promote new members’ content and reputations.

If you surf the web you will find more social networking sites than you probably imagine, but that’s just real life: social networks exists, everyone is part of more social networks than we can name. You have to find your target, give them something they want and ask them to give you something they have and want to share. If you have that, you have a successful social network.


Lucila.Campos@condiminds.com