Niche Social Networks: Post 3: Dogster

Join the Dogster community

While not a giant community yet, it's tough to describe the zeal with which Dogster members support this community. When I joined with my pup Sleepy, he was immediately welcomed by dozens of members. While that attention has ebbed, that's really because I am not sending virtual bones and the like around. So my dog's lack of enduring popularity is emphatically my fault.

It sure couldn't be because of his looks:







Let's be frank, this is not a beautiful site, but that just shows how its concept is so ripe with potential. That people will spend untold hours wandering around this nav is a scosh remarkable. A UI person could have a field day redoing the interfaces. But that seemingly mean shot is not intended to be. Dogster's community energy really is remarkable IN SPITE of the site design, which underscores the massive potential for this community.

There are a lot of people dog blogging, and most of the profiles have the 'how we adopted' story. Lots of in memoriam pages for dogs which are really quite touching and melancholy. Functions wise, it offers all of the features you would expect from a social media community, with an emphasis on the cute.

And hey, there's also a Catster, though I am sure those people are all crazy from the cat-pee-induced Alzheimer's. Sorry, cat people. I was just kidding. I am sure Catster is very nice as well.

According to Alexa and Quantcast, traffic for Dogster is and has been flat for a little while. It's definitely due to the clunky site design. Fix that and watch this site skyrocket. And while they're wating for that, dog product marketers should be on this site right now.

So if you have a dog, give it a check-out, and while you are at it, friend Sleepy, because he's glaring at me a lot lately for not filling his virtual dance card.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.