Financial Times creates a social networking site
By Heidi Dawley Feb 26, 2008
It was bound to happen, and it has. Some big social networking sites are seeing a slowing in the pace of their growth, and that's grabbing all the headlines.
But in the shadow of all that we're seeing a dramatic example of what's the next trend in social networking, the niche play.
The Financial Times is launching a social network aimed at the world's top executives, and the invitation is to mix and mingle with their peers and the leading experts in their fields.
That in itself is not so surprising. You'd expect that of a niche social network, whether for chess buffs or cross-dressing badminton players or dealers in old porches. It all but defines what social networking is about: a chance to rub shoulders.
What may be surprising about the FT network is that it carries a membership fee, a stiff one too: about $3,400 a year or more.
Obviously, the stiff price is about generating revenue, but it's also aimed at keeping the network membership exclusive, explains the FT. In the first year it hopes to sign up to 150 members. As of Friday, the day it launched, the network had six.
This particular network, titled the Telecoms Media and Technology Executive Membership Forum, is aimed at media and technology executives. Others will follow.
The pricey membership allows access to an online forum where members will be able to network with peers and experts in the field. That’s the social networking part.
But there's more. Members will receive a complimentary pass to an FT conference, access to speakers’ presentations through the forum and a subscription to the FT. There is also the opportunity to do some face-to-face networking with speakers and FT editors at specially arranged briefings. In effect, the FT is creating a virtual extension of its conference business.
“This is very much about building niche communities and strengthening loyalty to existing products that we already have,” says Jayne Van Hoen, the FT's global director of conferences and events.
“What I think is interesting is that the FT is bundling the social networking in with a number of things,” says Rebecca Jennings, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
But also interesting to media people is the choice of the paid model, and it may be the choice that other niche networking sites choose as well. Social networks are hugely popular but generally they've struggled at the revenue end.
“Social network sites still haven’t really figured out the revenue model,” says Bob Ivins, executive vice president of comScore in London.
The big social networks have been experimenting with bringing in advertising, he says, and while some have made progress in using search advertising, brand advertising has been more difficult.
Likely, the paid model will work for a select number of sites, those similar to the FT's, where members have the wherewithal to afford to belong. Says Forrester's Jennings: “I don’t think that charging will be the new model for social networking."
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Feb. 17, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. The top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
NexTag was the No. 1 advertiser with 5.9 million impressions, closely followed by No. 2 Experian Group Limited at 5.7 million. With 27.3 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MySpace at 2.7 million.
Sessions per person per week were even to the previous week at 17, and domains visited per person were down one to 40. PC time per person was even compared with the previous week, at 18 hours and almost 26 minutes.
Top 25 parent companies Through Feb. 17
#
Parent
Unique Audience (000)
Reach %
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
1
Google
89,652
63.7
0:34:10
2
Microsoft
86,788
61.7
0:45:39
3
Yahoo!
79,387
56.4
1:08:59
4
Time Warner
70,608
50.2
1:23:03
5
News Corp. Online
41,530
29.5
0:49:52
6
eBay
34,159
24.3
0:50:06
7
InterActiveCorp
29,232
20.8
0:12:36
8
Amazon
26,208
18.6
0:12:48
9
Walt Disney Internet Group
24,139
17.2
0:21:10
10
Apple Computer
23,972
17.0
0:32:21
11
Wikimedia Foundation
23,024
16.4
0:10:30
12
Landmark Communications
22,874
16.3
0:10:58
13
New York Times Company
20,967
14.9
0:10:18
14
AT&T Inc.
16,829
12.0
0:24:45
15
RealNetworks, Inc.
15,593
11.1
0:17:41
16
E.W. Scripps Company
14,413
10.2
0:06:47
17
Comcast Corp.
13,573
9.7
0:26:15
18
Verizon Communications
12,830
9.1
0:19:27
19
United Online
12,302
8.7
0:27:50
20
CNET Networks
11,932
8.5
0:05:06
21
Bank of America
11,531
8.2
0:26:37
22
Viacom Digital
11,335
8.1
0:31:46
23
CBS Corporation
11,165
7.9
0:13:36
24
General Electric
11,081
7.9
0:08:48
25
Gannett
11,054
7.9
0:12:13
Source: Nielsen Online
Top 25 brands Through Feb. 17
Parent
Unique Audience (000)
Reach %
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
1
Google
82,041
58.3
0:26:37
2
Yahoo!
79,152
56.3
1:08:43
3
MSN/Windows Live
63,265
45.0
0:46:33
4
AOL Media Network
55,932
39.8
1:32:57
5
Microsoft
55,869
39.7
0:18:04
6
Fox Interactive Media
36,018
25.6
0:53:04
7
YouTube
35,204
25.0
0:21:29
8
eBay
28,622
20.3
0:53:04
9
Apple
23,972
17.0
0:32:21
10
Wikipedia
22,950
16.3
0:10:29
11
Amazon
21,031
15.0
0:12:03
12
Weather Channel
20,842
14.8
0:11:06
13
CNN Digital Network
19,600
13.9
0:19:04
14
Ask Search Network
17,736
12.6
0:13:21
15
Real Network
15,593
11.1
0:17:41
16
Blogger
15,413
11.0
0:05:56
17
About.com
13,008
9.2
0:03:12
18
AT&T
12,508
8.9
0:29:44
19
Bank of America
11,180
8.0
0:26:25
20
Facebook
10,516
7.5
0:30:28
21
Comcast
10,503
7.5
0:32:14
22
Disney Online
10,467
7.4
0:24:34
23
Craigslist
10,335
7.3
0:35:42
24
Chase
9,110
6.5
0:14:31
25
IMDb - Internet Movie Database
8,468
6.0
0:09:38
Source: Nielsen Online
Top 25 advertisers (excludes house ads)
Through Feb. 17
#
Company
Impressions (000)
1
Experian Group Limited
5,936,954
2
NexTag, Inc.
5,709,512
3
Netflix, Inc.
1,937,032
4
The Walt Disney Corporation
1,886,859
5
InterActiveCorp
1,754,658
6
Vonage Holdings Corp
1,686,577
7
Bank of America Corporation
1,072,921
8
Verizon Communications, Inc.
985,933
9
Apollo Group, Inc.
901,855
10
Echostar Communications Corporation
807,487
11
AT&T Corp.
722,461
12
General Motors Corporation
688,684
13
HSBC Holdings plc
642,967
14
CoolSavings, Inc.
629,695
15
1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.
622,589
16
Scottrade, Inc.
619,301
17
GiftFreebies.com
584,426
18
TaxACT
578,117
19
Low.com
539,896
20
Citigroup Inc.
495,239
21
Deutsche Telekom AG
410,081
22
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
405,669
23
H&R Block, Inc.
387,353
24
eBay, Inc.
370,505
25
Fidelity Investments
357,262
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service.
Top 25 advertising sites (excludes house ads)
Through Feb. 17
Company
Impressions (000)
1
Yahoo!
27,323,268
2
MySpace
2,658,756
3
MSN
1,806,834
4
AOL.com
1,155,942
5
eBay
1,151,282
6
MSNBC
1,018,667
7
Comcast.net
693,708
8
Facebook
601,064
9
The Weather Channel
596,200
10
New York Times
589,434
11
FOXNEWS.COM
519,895
12
IMDb
474,804
13
CNN
471,834
14
NeoPets
460,417
15
Photobucket
425,428
16
MyPoints
397,839
17
NetZero
396,235
18
Home & Garden Television
387,729
19
Amazon
372,770
20
Juno
329,568
21
SI.com
271,248
22
ESPN.com
219,228
23
CNN Money
208,155
24
Excite
200,565
25
The Weather Underground
165,943
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service.
