Top 5 Emerging Social Networks Revisited

When we say emerging, we don’t mean new social networks that are making an entry into the social networking scene. But we’re referring to the top 5 social network following Facebook and MySpace in the recent comScore data release on the WorldWide Growth Among Selected Social Networking Sites covering the month of June. And these five emerging social networking sites are Hi5, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo and Skyrock network.

Hi5.com - From its initial launch in 2005, Hi5 has grown really big, boasting of around 56.4 million unique visitors in 2008.Hi5’s growing popularity cannot but attributed to the exponential growth of its membership in the US but rather to its international members which comprised 80% of Hi5’s current membership base. Hi5’s availability to around additional 40 languages has contributed to the localization of Hi5 as a social networking site. Or to put it simply, Hi5 is just living up to its credo - discover, connect and communicate. These three principles is what makes social networking a unique and widely used online tool.

Friendster - It’s rapid growth can be traced back not to its feature but rather because Friendster was able to get the Asian userbase who are so accustomed to the features and interface of Friendster. And besides, being one of the pioneers in the social networking definitely makes a difference.

Orkut - Well, what do you know. The weird-sounding name maybe a turn off to everyone, but Google’s acquired social networking site is definitely starting to make waves into the social networking market. Actually, it’s about time that Google promotes its social networking service, especially now that Orkut is getting improvements one after the other.

Bebo - Bebo’s success can be attributed to the fact that it a pretty simple interface and yet you won’t feel short-changed when you become a Bebo member. The site lets you stay in touch with your college friends, connect with friends, share photos, and discover new interests and just hang out.

Skyrock Network - I would have to admit that this the first time that I’ve heard about this social networking site. It currently boasts of more than 8 million members worldwide and 17 million Bebo blogs which it supports and manage. Hence Skyrock Network made it to the top 5 of the June 2008 social networking site analytics.

There you go, 5 emerging social networking sites, waiting for the right moment to be discovered.