More competition for MySpace.com emerges

We already have a big list of websites claiming to be the ultimate place for social networking on the internet. Google has Orkut and we have other independent networks like Friendster and Hi5. However, the leader in this market is clearly MySpace.com, which has attracted a lot of attention on the net since last couple of months. Especially after News Corp went ahead and acquired the network for a great price.

Nevertheless, internet is a place where there is no end of challengers and we see newer networks emerging aiming to gain a share of the pie. AOL is one of the latest entrant in this field as they have launched their own take on social networking named AIM Pages.

Greg Sterling, an industry analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence said on this phenomenon: “MySpace went from being this curiosity to a cultural phenomenon. People started to think this is a really, really big opportunity.”

Even Yahoo! had kept social networking in mind while redesigning their new homepage. The company has added recommendations and insights about cultural trends calculated from the inputs from the millions of Yahoo! users online.

Then we have smaller startups like Famoodle, Tagged Inc. and Varsity Media Group Inc.’s Varsity World. BBC is considering optimizing their site to attract youth to their site and we might see them develop a version of a socially networked section as well.