You already know Facebook (who doesn’t), Twitter, Google+ and a few other popular social networking site. But how much do you know about niche social networking sites that focus on users with particular set(s) of interest? Networking on niche social platforms gives a sense of belonging, knowing that you are with people who share similar interest or even think like you. You need to often spend time on niche social network of your interest to meet people of like minds; make friends, get business contacts, share related experience and do more
Below, I have compiled a list of niche based social networking sites on various interests, most of which you have not heard of; you should check them out.
Use the links below to navigate this page
Academic, African Network, Arts- Photography, Athletics, Book lovers, Business and professional, Family, Game Lovers, Baby Boomers, Health, Government, Language, Music and video, Personal development, Photo, Travel, Web and software development
Academic
Academia.edu: Social networking site for academics/researchers. A platform for academics to share research papers. It was launched in September 2008 and has over 1.2 million registered users.
ResearchGate: Social network for scientific researchers. A network dedicated to science and research. Connect, collaborate and discover scientific publications, jobs and conferences. All for free.
African Network
BlackPlanet Claims to be the worlds largest free African-American online community where Black women and Black men meet to chat, discuss and engage on what matters to us.
LAGbook African Social Networking Site. Ladies And Gentlemen book (popularly known as “LAGbook”) is online social network where 150427 people unwind, mix-up, connect with one another and share their daily experience.
VC4Africa The African business network connecting entrepreneurs and investors VC4Africa is the largest online community of investors, angels and entrepreneurs working to build businesses on the continent of Africa.
Arts- Photography
deviantART Art community Open to people 13 and older. Community of artists and those devoted to art. Digital art, skin art, themes, wallpaper art, traditional art, photography, poetry / prose. Art prints.
Elftown Community and wiki around Fantasy and sci-fi. The community and meeting place for lovers of fantasy and science fiction art. Contains forums, message systems and a well used wiki system.
Taltopia Online artistic community. A community designed to discover, promote, critique, and enjoy creative talent. Build a fan club, book gigs, enter contests, and get the exposure you deserve!
Athletics
Athlinks Running, Swimming Athlinks.com is a comprehensive online race results database for triathlon, running, cycling, mountain biking, swimming and adventure racing.
Book lovers
aNobii Shelve and show off your books. Find. Discover your next book with the help of the aNobii community. Share. Rate and review your books,
Goodreads Library cataloging. See what your friends are reading. Keep track of what you’ve read and organize your books into virtual bookshelves. Join a book club to discuss your favorite
LibraryThing An online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so on.
Shelfari See what your friends are reading. Create virtual bookshelves for your books to keep track of what you’ve read. Discuss your favorite books in a book club.
Wattpad For readers and authors to interact & e-book sharing. Join the Wattpad community to read, vote and chat with readers and writers for free.
Business and professional
Focus.com Business to Business. Open to people 13 and older. Share what you know with millions of people. Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content.
HR.com Social networking site for Human Resources professionals. HR.com is the largest online community for human resources professionals featuring articles, news, webcasts, events, white papers, discussion forums,
LinkedIn Business and professional networking Open to people 18 and older. Manage your professional identity. Build and engage with your professional network. Access knowledge, insights and opportunities.
Meettheboss Business and Finance community, worldwide. MeetTheBoss TV gives you insight and learning through personal and candid interviews with renowned global business leaders PLUS a revolutionary management training program. Thought provoking and career enhancing advice of such incredible quality has never been this accessible, this immediate, or this free.
MouthShut.com Social Network, social media, consumer reviews . Get honest user reviews and blogs of products, places, businesses, services. Consumer reviews on movies, cars, bikes, music, mobile phones, books, airlines,
Talkbiznow Business networking. Talkbiznow is a web-based business community that provides business services for small businesses and professionals.
VC4Africa The African business network connecting entrepreneurs and investors. VC4Africa is the largest online community of investors, angels and entrepreneurs working to build businesses on the continent.
Viadeo Global Social Networking and Campus Networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Manage your network of professional contacts. Identify useful contacts through your extended network. Share information and knowledge. Find new leads and partnership opportunities.
Yammer Social networking for office colleagues. Requires company email to sign up. Yammer brings the power of social networking to the enterprise in a private and secure environment. Yammer is as easy to use as great consumer software like Facebook and Twitter, but is designed for company collaboration, file sharing, knowledge exchange and team efficiency.
Family
CafeMom Mothers Open to moms and moms-to-be. CafeMom is a community where moms come together to get advice and support on topics like pregnancy, health, fashion, food, entertainment, and more.
Geni.com Families, genealogy. Create your family tree and invite relatives to share. Search 100 million profiles and discover new ancestors. Share photos, videos and more.
MyHeritage family-oriented social network service. Create your family tree and discover your family history. Free genealogy software. Get automatic Smart Matches on 1032 million profiles and share photos. You may not be so lucky with this
Game Lovers
GamerDNA Computer and video games. Discover what’s really happening in the games world .. Members can create personal pages with game history, photos, blogs, scores and profiles, and form groups based on interests and guilds. Keep track of game
Generational
Eons.com For baby boomers and mature internet users age 40 and beyond. Open to people age 40 years and older. Eons.com is the online community for spirited BOOMers who want to explore their passions, keep in touch with friends, connect with interesting people, share life
Health
DailyStrength Medical & emotional support community – Physical health, Mental health, Support groups. Join DailyStrength’s free and anonymous online community and talk to friendly people facing the same challenges you are.
PatientsLikeMe Online community for patients with life-changing illnesses to find other patients like them, share their data with others, and learn more about their condition to improve their outcome. Open to people 13 years and up. Share your experiences with treatments. Find patients just like you. Learn from others who know.
Humanity
Care2 Green living and social activism. Largest online community empowering people to lead a healthy and green lifestyle while taking action on important causes such as human rights, animal …
Cross.tv Faith Based social network for Christian believers from around the world. Faith, community, church, bible, blogs, friends, social media, video streaming, faith based global, multi lingual, social media community, video portal and on
GovLoop For people in and around government. Social Network for Government. GovLoop is the premier online community where more than 50000 public sector professionals connect to advance their careers.
WiserEarth Online community space for the social justice and environmental movement Open to people 16 and older
Xt3 - Christ in the Third Millennium- Catholic social networking, created after World Youth Day 2008. It is an interactive social media platform for all your latest videos, podcasts, articles and much more. Xt3 will keep you in touch with Church news and events, keep you informed on all the hot topics and the latest on WYD2013.
Language learning
Busuu Language learning community. A free online community for learning languages. Connect for free with native speakers worldwide. Enhance your language learning.
italki.com Language learning social network. 100+ languages. italki is a language learning social network that connects students and language teachers. You can find language exchange partners, practice speaking a language
Livemocha Online language learning community. Learn a language and connect with native speakers for instructive help.
TermWiki Learning / Languages / Translation – 1.2m terms in more than 1300 subjects. TermWiki.com is a growing social learning network aimed at sharing knowledge and connecting people with similar interests around the world. It’s like the break between classes: you can talk with your friends, pose a few questions, and learn more about the things that interest you. All of the information in TermWiki is based on specific subject-oriented terms and short encyclopedia-like entries. They are user-created and user-managed, and are marked with the information of the person who created them—so you will always get props for your expert advice, information, and insight.
Link, Music and video sharing
Buzznet Music and pop-culture. Music community band photos fashion and celebrities. Buzznet.com is a community of pop culture addicts, music lovers and trendsetters who come together to share millions of creative photos, videos and blogs.
Digg The best news, videos and pictures on the web as voted on by the Digg community. Breaking news on Technology, Politics, Entertainment, and more!
FilmAffinity Movies and TV Series. Filmaffinity.com AKA movieaffinity.com is a website that finds people who have the same taste in movies as you, so you can consult their ratings for any movie
Flixster Movies Open to people 13 and older. A community where users share film reviews and ratings.
Last.fm The world’s largest online music catalogue. Free internet radio, videos, photos, stats, charts, biographies and concerts. Need new music? Last.fm lets you effortlessly keep a record of what you listen to* from any player. Based on your taste, Last.fm recommends you more music and concerts!
MOG Open to people 14 and older . An online community that focuses on sharing songs, a music library, videos and thoughts on music.
Playlist.com Listen to free music. Search and listen to free songs online. Search songs, artists, and albums, create playlists & share them with your friends and family.
SoundCloud Repository of original music pieces and networking. Create, record and share the sounds you create anywhere to friends, family and the world with SoundCloud, the world’s largest community of sound creators.
StumbleUpon is the easiest way to discover new and interesting web pages, photos and videos across the Web.
Personal development
43 Things: Goal setting and achievement. Create and share an online goal list and learn how to get each item accomplished. Help you answer the question: What do you want to do with your life? Join over 3 million people who list their goals, share their progress, and cheer each other on.
Experience Project The world’s largest collection of life experiences, personal stories, and the people who have had them. Share and connect through your life experiences,
Photo sharing
DailyBooth Photo-blogging site where users upload a photo every day. See yourself? Go on, snap a picture! DailyBooth is one big conversation about your life, through pictures No need to sign up just yet, just try snapping a picture! Make some new friends real fast.
Flickr Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking. Open to people 13 and older, Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. Show off your favorite photos and videos to the world, securely
Fotki Photo sharing, video hosting, photo contests, journals, forums, flexible privacy protection, friend’s feed, audio comments and unlimited custom design integration. Fotki.com is superior service for sharing and printing your photos online.
Pinterest Online pinboard for organizing and sharing things you love. A content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to their pinboard. Also includes standard social networking features.
Travel lovers
CouchSurfing Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the communities they visit. A volunteer-based worldwide network connecting travelers with members of local communities, who offer free accommodation and/or advice.
Exploroo Travel Social Networking. Travel and explore, meet friends and share experiences with a one-stop social networking community.
Gapyear.com Travel social network. Join the gap year social network and get advice and inspiration on gap years, backpacking, volunteering and working abroad.
TravBuddy.com Travel Open to people 18 and older. Honest travel reviews, millions of travel buddies, and thousands of travel blogs to help plan your next trip. Share travel tips, find a travel buddy, and blog about
Travellerspoint It’s where your journey begins; start a blog, map your travels, research destinations, read reviews and book your accommodation.
WAYN Travel and lifestyle Open to people 18 and older. Meet like-minded people based on where you would love to go and what you would love to do.
Web and software Developers
Advogato Free and open source software developers. Community resource site for developers of free software; news, and diary service.
Others/General
Gather.com Article, picture, and video sharing, as well as group discussions. Gather is the place where millions of people come for a fresh perspective on what’s happening now. Gather Members can join in the conversation. Thousands of writers share news and commentary every day on Gather. Join the Gather community to share your own perspective.
Identi.ca Twitter-like service popular with hackers and software freedom advocates. A social microblogging service similar to Twitter, built on open source tools and open standards. Allows users to send text-based posts up to 140 characters
Meetup Used to plan offline meetings for people interested in various activities. Open to people 18 and older. Helps groups of people with shared interests plan meetings and form offline clubs in local communities around the world.
Ning Users create their own social websites and social networks. Open to people 13 and older. The World’s Largest Platform for Creating Social Websites
Wepolls.com Polling Social network. Create and take polls for free. Share opinions with your friends. See what people think.
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