Myspace and Facebook Losing Friends?

According to a recent article on Wired Magazines website the two major social networking websites have finally found a weakness in there online empires. Myspace.com and Facebook.com are both websites that have taken the internet and our generation by storm. They allow for people from across the planet to meet and share stories, information, pictures and events with a variety of people on a variety of topics. However now as other networking sites are slowly popping up advertiser and investors are starting to ask are these two gigantic websites a little too general?

According to this article myspace alone boasts 225 million members. These people (including myself and probably you too) come from many different backgrounds. The fact that the creators of Myspace and Facebook found a way to get so many sets of eye balls to repeatedly come to there websites of course got audience hungry advertisers interested in these sites. However, now it seems they are asking themselves if these sites are truly able to connect them with the intended audiences. Just in a short visit to my own myspace page i found an ad to see the Jonas brothers perform live. Anyone who knows me or visits my page (www.myspace.com/jblack919) will clearly see that I and those who visit my page will not be going to see them.

This is what matters in the world of advertising. In recent weeks I have noticed an upsurge in niche social networking websites. Although these sites maybe small in membership advertisers are taking notice. Don't you think that the advertiser in charge of the Jonas Brothers event would be much more satisfied if they put that same ad on a website dedicated to there genre of music. Although the ad may not reach the millions of people it will reach on a Myspace or Facebook they would be able to rest easily knowing that a higher percentage of people would come out and support the event.

Niche websites like Conscious Africans connected (http://consciousafricans.ning.com/), Linkedin (www.linkedin.com) and YSN.com are all connecting advertisers and audiences in a much more focused way than Myspace and Facebook are capable of. However do not think that the two networking behemoths are to be outdone. Facebook has tried to combat this with its decision to show users when their friends patronize a certain business or ad however this strategy has proven to be more of an annoyance to the average user like myself.

Ultimately I feel that the social networking site is here to stay as are its two flagships. However the days of there whole sale market dominance are numbered. What we are seeing now is that the floodgates have been opened. The concept of social networking is backfiring on the creators of these two sites but in reality they are not going anywhere anytime soon. What I foresee happening is that they both will eventually fall into the background as more niche sites begin to appear. In any case nobody can argue that Myspace and Facebook have connected out generation like never before.