Cross Channel Digital : Social Niche-works

Digital, cross-channel -- everyone is a publisher. The social web is fragmented into:

• communities based around specific functions (sharing, connecting, research) and
  
• types of relationships (segments within the professional, personal).

Channels that address relationships and functionality with specificity shouldn't be considered broadcast channels, but social niche-works.

While it's common to think that these channels are converging, the reality is that they are still in the early stages and each addresses a specific purpose. From this perspective the niche-works are actually more useful at addressing user segments when selected and integrated around a social (or marketing/communications) strategy. Integration is an essential part of the mix because what we have so cleanly defined as the "consideration" stage of the sales funnel has evolved into a resonant process/dialog which can be described as a Conversion Prism where consumers shed/gain brand loyalty.

Wide scope digital channels:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• SlideShare
• Blogger/Tumblr/Wordpress etc
  
• Flickr
• Ning
  

Some to consider:

• FourSquare/Scavenger
• LinkedIn/about.me
• Quora
• Craigs List
• Delicious
• Myspace (it'ts not dead, its for music)
• SalesForce
• Webinar (live/archived)

Emerging, social niche-works

• Kuler
• StackOverflow
• Pandora/Spotify
• about.me/people.fm
• urbandictionary
  

A challenge for measurement, but a pick-list for transmedia initiatives.