There are dozens, if not hundreds, of social networking websites devoted to niche markets. There’s DeviantArt for blossoming artists, Model Mayhem for would-be models, Fuzzster for pets and pet-owners, and even MyDeathSpace for corpses.
Naturally, the gay and lesbian demographic has its own fair share of social networking sites: Gay.com, Connexion, Manhunt, DList, and Glee to mention a few, and there’s even the tragically underwhelming BeautifulGayGuys, whose pre-existing members screen potential members based on physical attractiveness.
In fact, there are too many gay-themed social networks to belong to them all and have a life outside the Internet, not to mention the ‘mainstream’ social networking sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, and Friendster.
What’s an internet-savvy gay young professional to do?
My advice might surprise you, but I say go for the big guns.
Myspace might have a reputation for being overrun with 14 year old emo tweens, but it’s currently the largest social networking website, with over 100 million accounts. Facebook has over 40 million accounts, and is growing quickly.
You might wonder why you should join a generic social networking site when there are so many gay-friendly options available?
For one thing, I should hope one’s entire social network is not limited to other gays. Straight people can be nice, too, I hear.
However, even assuming that you’re only interested in making gay friends, Facebook and Myspace are still your best bets.
(Interestingly, Facebook and Myspace attract a disproportionately high percentage of gay users.)
But disregarding that, let us roughly assume that a flat 5% of Facebook and Myspace users are gay, and conservatively estimate a user base of 150 million between the two networks. That’s 7.5 million gay users, which dwarfs most (if not all) of the gay-themed social networking competition.
What’s the difference between the two? It’s largely a matter of demographics and personal preference. I like Facebook’s cleaner interface and advanced privacy controls, but I have a Myspace, too.
LinkedIn isn’t as fun or frivolous as many of the other social networking sites, but it could potentially be much more valuable than all the other social networking websites combined.
LinkedIn offers social networking for career-oriented professionals. While there’s no guarantee that your next job offer is going to come from the Internet, it doesn’t hurt to put yourself out there, and having a job-centric profile might even inspire you to be more thoughtful about your career development.
Even if you’re not sure if LinkedIn is right for you, it makes sense to go ahead and reserve an account using your first and last name, if only to prevent someone else from taking it later. Right now there are only about 15 million users, but membership is growing quickly.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out my earlier entries, How to Write Successful Social Networking Profiles and How to Write Successful Social Networking Profiles, Part 2: Your Profile as an Ad.
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