Blue Cross Launches AllAboutPets

Could news that the Conservative Party has launched a Facebook 'friends' Recruitment Drive further fuel the recent decline in UK membership of large social networking sites? If so, the time may have come for the niche markets to step up to the stage. The Blue Cross certainly seems to think so. The animal charity has launched what it calls 'a social networking site for anyone interested in pets'. And it is not alone in spotting the migration..

Currently in its Beta form, the Blus Cross' new allaboutpets is a 'music centre' of a membership site combining forums, rolling news, polls, video uploads and so on.

The news is a mix of aggregation, press releases and in-house articles, indexed by topic. Unsurprisingly for a site in beta development membership is currently very low, (under 100).

Conversely PetStreet, registered as a domain since October 2006, is a pet owners social networking site with just over 2000 members.

The immediate obvious difference between the two sites is the emphasis that PetStreet has given to video and still imagery, rendering it for example, Bebo-like in appearance.

Founder Maurice Melzak admits that gradually the site will become more commercialised but, he says:

"Only by associating with products that are ethical, organic, environmentally friendly etc or just really useful."

These membership numbers are infinitesimally small when set against the likes of MySpace, (300 million) or Friends Reunited, (19 million). Even UKPets which is not a social networking site has a greater membership, (9,000). But if there is a migration even in a small way, from the Great social network giants, then these early adopters in the pets sector may be well positioned to take in strays.