My Take On Multiply.com

Last week I posted an interview I did with Peter Pezaris, CEO of SN site Multiply.com. Before and after our discussion I poked around Multiply.com for awhile to check out its features. I personally believe that Mutliply is one of the better general social networks right now. Its interface is clean and easy to use and the site is full of content sharing features. I would agree with Peter, when he says that out of all the general social networks (Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, etc) that Multiply has the best media sharing applications.

Peter and his crew have done a great job in building a social networking application for their target market, the “average joe”. At the same this target market also causes Multiply to lack the “cool factor” that Peter mentions about Myspace and Facebook.

But the big question is, does multiply have that unique feature to enable it to become the next top social networking site? No. The next major success (Myspace success) in social networking will introduce something to the table that no other site currently has.

In addition, I have a different view on niche social networks then Peter. While Peter believes that niche social networks will have a minimal effect on the SN space, I think they will have a very big influence. Niche social networks on certain subjects can introduce features that general social networks can’t, due to their narrow focus. These features will draw in niche crowds. I think this will lead to people being part of one large general social network such as Myspace, Facebook, or Multiply in addition to one or more small niche social networks. Eventually, the big issue will be how to bring people’s multiple memberships together, which I talked about in my posting on “The Future of Social Networking.”

Bottom line is that Multiply is an excellent SN site for their target market. But will they see the explosive growth into the tens of millions like the other big players? Probably not.

[tags]Social Networking, Social Network, Multiply, Myspace, Vertical Social Networks, Facebook[/tags]