Social networking sites are not only bringing people together in a general sense, but are now also starting to bring niche groups together. There has been a small wave of new social networking sites that have been developed specifically for certain groups sharing particular interests or vocations. This means that people will be able to communicate shared ideas and shared interests with regards to very specific things.

This has been already been initiated by Facebook, who developed extensions within their site for people of particular vocations who would like to share news and advice about their chosen careers etc. and who wish to up the level of their game by teaching each other things involving their shared profession. Niche groups are becoming more important, as the population expands and careers become more specialised and in larger groups.

A prime example of this wave of niche social networking, if it can be so called, is a site by the name of FamilyLink, which has just recently been opened up to the public by the worker-bees at World Vital Records.

FamilyLink has been specifically designed for people who have a serious interest in genealogy as well as professional genealogists.

It is the intention of this site to motivate initial or the first users, experienced genealogists especially, to set up personal profiles, stating which cities they live in, which cities they do research in, create ancestor pages, as well as to give critical feedback about the site’s initial features and design. It is also designed for people wishing to locate family members and family trees, and being able to locate existing family members that you didn’t even know you had. The benefits are clear, and there is no reason as to why this trend should not be followed by other specialised fields.

In the past it has often been questioned whether people of all ages, as opposed to only specific age groups, will engage in social networking in the near future, the way specific age groups have done on MySpace and Facebook, but it now seems that this question has been answered. People of all ages are interacting on social networking sites, and the numbers are only growing!

My guess is that, if enough niche sites are created for areas of specific interest, all generations will definitely become more involved in social networking, and levels of communication between all age groups will improve drastically. Social networking sites will no longer be viewed by other Internet users as a frivolity, but rather, as a form of education. It is also anticipated that older groups and younger groups will start to communicate more with one another, bridging a bit of the gap that exists between generations, and that people who didn’t know that they had an interest in something can discover a hidden talent.

One thing that should be noted when taking an interest in these particular niche sites, especially ones that are of as serious a nature as genealogy, is that you should not bother signing up if it not a real interest that you are going to nurture and maintain. These sites do not want the clutter of inactive profiles on their networks. They urge users to rather join social networks that are more their cup of tea, and that will pique their interests far more, therefore encouraging use of the sites as opposed to just having stagnant profiles.

It will be very interesting to see where the never ending path of the social networking phenomenon leads to from here. With initiatives like creating niche sites, the possibilities are endless.