Feeling My Way Around Social Networks

Some of you are aware that I have recently become a bit of a Paragliding nutjob. I have found the sport, in the word’s Jerry MacGuire, completes me [two handed circle action for effect]. You see I like adventure and beautiful scenery but not activities that make me feel like I am going to die every second which made Paragliding a great choice as you only feel like you will die every few minutes.

So of course, I hit my first love, the Internet (not my Fiance, she’s my third love, in order of discovery not preference!) to find out more about my fourth love, Paragliding, only to be dismally disappointed by the quality and consistency of paragliding websites out here. I found myself wondering why no-one had created a great web presence for such a cool, aspirational sport.

The Light Bulb Moment

Ahhhh! And there it was. My second love (marketing) instincts kicked in, as they usually do when I am on the net. My marketing brain started spewing out jumbo about paragliding phsychometrics:

· High LSM participants, willing to spend good money on equipment and gadgets.

· Passionate and tight community.

· Well documented travellers and explorers.

· Hi technology usage and knowledge.

· Well defined niche.

· A very large niche, hundreds of thousands of participants worldwide.

· Multiple (and I mean plenty) monetization opportunities for a paragliding website.

· And no-one has secured this market online?!

And so of course I created a paragliding website or social network to be more accurate, called Cloudseekers using the uber-cool platform: Ning. Now the first release of Cloudseekers, as you see it now, is in its most basic format with the standard social network functions of sharing blogs, photos, videos etc. But the beauty of a niche social network, is that you can develop it specifically for that audience’s needs and be ‘everything for someone’ and not ‘everything for everyone’. Now all I need to do is find a decent developer for the phase two developments. Any recommendations?

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