Social Networking is Due for Mergers
Feb 18th, 2008 | By Dave | Category: Features, General Information, In the News, News Bytes, Social MediaAccording to a Forrester Research analyst, the sheer number of ?white label? social networking platforms flooding the market has created a bubble which is due to explode.
The influx of white label social networking platforms is in part due to the social networking marketing hype that exists on the Internet and the ease of deploying these software packages.
“The flood in this market is due to low barriers to entry from easy-to-deploy software, an influx of venture money wanting to get in on the ’so-net’ action and media frenzy from existing social networks like Facebook, MySpace and others,” said Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forester Research specializing in social computing.
Owyang believes, “Like the [portal software] industry in the late ’90s, expect to see some major acquisitions from major media, and Web companies … traditional CMS vendors are currently adding ’social features’ to their products — most without success — and will resort to acquiring vendors to fill their suites.”
With more than 60 major players in this market, it is easy to see why Owyang believes as he does. If the shakeup occurs, Owyang sees the remaining companies will not just deal in software packages, but will look into building strategic partnerships with enterprises to give full solutions for growing social networking sites.