Candidates find Success on specialized Sites

[illinoisprogressive]

Barack Obama is glad he found BlackPlanet.com, and the social networking site for African-Americans is thrilled it found him
Yesterday, 17 days after becoming the first presidential candidate to post his profile on BlackPlanet, Obama had attracted nearly 232,000 friends, more than he has amassed over the past year on MySpace or Facebook, the two largest online social networking communities.

On MyGrito.com, a bilingual social networking site for Latinos, Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton outlines her "agenda to provide more opportunities for Latinos," takes weekly questions from members, and posts statements in English and Spanish on relevant issues, the most recent on National Latino AIDS Awareness Day.

Presidential candidates are increasingly turning to these specialized networking hubs - which bring people together with similar backgrounds, ethnicities, or interests - to directly target like-minded voters and potential donors with tailored messages.

BlackPlanet's success with Obama also shows how niche social networking businesses are capitalizing on the presidential campaign to raise their reputations, attract new members, and make money.

Community Connect Inc., which runs BlackPlanet and four other niche social networking sites, invited its 16 million members to be friends of Obama with the launch of his profile, a promotion usually reserved for paying customers like musicians. Community Connect gave Obama free advertisements on the BlackPlanet home page and banner ads for two weeks in exchange for the campaign's promise to update his profile at least twice a month and to provide video clips and photos, among other conditions.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/23/on_specialized_websites_candidates_home_in/