ProElite is probably considered the second most powerful force in the world of mixed martial arts today. The parent company to such MMA promotions as EliteXC, Cage Rage and a publicly traded company(ProElite Inc. ), ProElite has made its own efforts to become more visible in social media by offering their own social network at ProElite.com. This network has the same features of myspace and facebook in that it allows you to have a profile with pictures, videos, and even a blog. This social network is created for the many MMA fans around the world and is not only a good idea for strengthening the ProElite brand but also a great PR tool for the organization and the fighters themselves. Many MMA fighters have profiles and actively blog through their profiles and accept friend requests from fans. This also gives the fighters a forum to discuss problems or controversies that might have occurred during fights. The tag line for the new social network is "Empowering the Fighting Community".With all this said:
Do you think that there are too many social networking sites on the web today?
Are these niche networking sites going to be around in 5 years?
When does addition of such social networks to organizations begin to subtract from the organizations online experience?
4 comments:
I definitely think there is a bit of an overload in social networking communities. As I was sitting reading through RSS feeds today, I probably read about 3 or so new network sites that were just being launched today. With so much out there it's hard to either stay away from all of them or figure out which ones are of any worth.
I do think what helps is when each network site caters to really specific interests like ProElite. Here is where social networking really works because where else could people come together to talk about mixed martial arts? And, that's what I think will be the key for longevity in this new 2.0 world. Unless a network is specific to a certain audiences interests, I think most of the other generic myspace-wannabe places will be down and out in 5 years or so.
I agree with Kassie's excellent assessment. Niche ones can succeed if they really work towards generating a community (forums, groups, etc.) in a way that will gently nudge various people with a similar interests/hobbies into communicating with those who they may not know in real life. But again, time will tell - but at least users have a plethora to choose from and we'll see which ones end up truly becoming integrated communities in a few years.
I think this is a good thing. You can communicate with people who you are interested in the same thing and want to share their stories, info, and problems. My brother would actually really like this site, so I will pass it along.
Its not surprising that there is an MMA social networking site these days. Especially with the growing popularity of the sport. I call it sport even though there are many critics out there that disagree. But I belive that MMA is the future it's popularity and the level of athletes makes the MMA the 1920's boxing or 1930's baseball of our generation. I agree with Kassie, if the number of social networking sites continues to increase soon even the most obscure topics and interests will have social networking sites built around them. I am waiting for the day we find a social networking site for Eskimo refrigerator salesmen that also enjoy slam poetry.
Post a Comment