{"id":21437,"date":"2020-01-28T16:35:22","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T16:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/vertical-social-network"},"modified":"2026-09-17T12:43:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:43:06","slug":"vertical-social-network","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/vertical-social-network","title":{"rendered":"Vertical Social Network"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad wp-image-23364 size-full alignright\" style=\"margin-top: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/vertical-social-network.jpg\" alt=\"Vertical Social Network\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/vertical-social-network.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/vertical-social-network-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <strong><em>vertical social network<\/em><\/strong>, also called a <em>thematic or niche social network<\/em>, is a digital community centred on a particular interest, profession, activity or type of relationship.<\/p>\n<p>It differs from a <em>horizontal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/social-network\">social network<\/a><\/em> because <strong>it does not seek to bring together profiles and subjects of every kind<\/strong>, but to provide connections, content and functions adapted to a particular field. The boundary is not always strict: some services combine a community, catalogue, marketplace, database or specialist tools.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"indexed\"><span class=\"heading_text\">Advantages of vertical social networks<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Potential advantages of a specialist community include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Thematic audience:<\/strong> Participants share an identifiable interest, which can support more relevant conversations and marketing activity. This does not mean that everyone has the same intent or commercial profile.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Specialist functions and language:<\/strong> The platform can adapt categories, filters, reputation and tools to the needs of the field, supporting more contextual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/engagement\">engagement<\/a> when the community provides value.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Knowledge and visibility within the niche:<\/strong> Useful participation may help an organisation understand questions, collaborate and gain recognition. Presence alone does not guarantee rankings, traffic or conversions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The smaller size of a <em>vertical network<\/em> may also limit its reach<\/strong>, activity and available data. Before investing resources, an organisation should review whether the community remains active, who participates, which rules apply and whether the intended commercial use is permitted.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"indexed\"><span id=\"ejemplos-red-social-vertical\" class=\"anchor\"><\/span><span class=\"heading_text\">Vertical social network examples<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Classification depends on the importance of profiles, connections and community participation<\/strong>. Current and historical examples include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Travel and outdoor activities:<\/strong> Minube brings together content and recommendations from travellers, while Wikiloc specialises in routes and outdoor activities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dating and professions:<\/strong> Badoo and Tinder connect profiles for relationships, while esanum operates as a professional community for doctors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shared mobility:<\/strong> BlaBlaCar combines profiles, reputation and interaction with a shared-journey marketplace. It can therefore be described as a vertical platform with social components rather than solely a social network.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pets:<\/strong> Doggy Talky has been cited as a niche application connecting dog owners. The availability of such services can change and needs to be checked before they are included in a campaign.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Film:<\/strong> FilmAffinity and IMDb include profiles, ratings, reviews and lists, although they also operate as databases and information services.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Motorcycling:<\/strong> Moterus is a historical example of a specialist community for motorcycle enthusiasts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Photography:<\/strong> Instagram began with a focus on photography and developed into a horizontal network covering diverse formats and audiences. Flickr retains a more specific focus on photographic hosting, organisation and community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These examples show that <strong>a platform can change its scope or combine several models<\/strong>. Specialisation needs to be assessed through its current purpose, functions and community rather than only the category in which it began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: A vertical social network, also called a thematic or niche social network, is a digital community centred on a particular interest, profession, activity or type of relationship. It differs from a horizontal social network because it does not seek to bring together profiles and subjects of every kind, but to provide connections, content and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[410],"class_list":["post-21437","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-social-networks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/21437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=21437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}