Which Social Network For Dogs Has the Best Facebook App?
Are you one of those weird pet parents that likes to get your pet as socially connected as you are?
It's ok, I am too.
If you're like me and have a facebook account with several hundred friends, it'd make the most sense to choose a social network for dogs that integrates with facebook with an equally useful application doesn't it?
So which social network for dogs has the best facebook integration?
The answer is going to surprise you.
Up until earlier this month I had never even considered getting my dogs a profile on a social network for pooches.
Nevertheless, for whatever reason the idea popped into my head...and so I began Googling.
That said, I knew from the start that I wanted awesome integration with my facebook profile. Unfortunately the pickings were slim in that neighborhood...until one network surprised me.
The Rundown on the Top 3 Social Networks for Dogs:
#1: Dogster.com
Dogster is the #1 social network for dogs, hands down.
The closest competition isn't really even close at all in terms of users.
Dogster has:
been around since 2004
claims to have 750,000 users with 600,000 pets
4 million uploaded photos
The robust community there includes breed info, manuals, profiles, groups, reviews of local areas that are pet fun and friendly, video and picture upload, adoption tools, and more.
Dogster's Facebook Integration: Surpringly poor!
They DO have a facebook app, but with only 304 active users (at the time of this writing) and only 95 fans. Yikes.
How does that happen? 750,000 users on their site yet only 95 of those use their facebook app?
Sorry, that one wasn't for me.
#2: DoggySpace.com
Doggyspace is a pretty new site. They've only been around since last June.
They don't seem to have quite as much to offer as Dogster does, but as Lynnette has already pointed out, Doggyspace is the place you want to be if you'd like to be in on the groundfloor, shaping the community from the bottom up.
DoggySpace's Facebook Integration: Zippo, zilch, nada, and non-existent
Despite the fact that Doggyspace looks a lot like facebook in their color scheme and layout, they don't have an app to show off ur pooch in facebook.
Strike 2 for me.
#3: UnitedDogs.com
UnitedDogs is a little bit different than the Dogster or Doggyspace.
UnitedDogs claims to "unite 105,806 dogs worldwide" (at the time of this writing).
They offers forums, contests, photo/video uploads, pet wikis, ecards, profile pages, and more.
This community seems to focus more on forums than it does the other aspects...which is different than and sets it apart from its competition.
UnitedDogs Facebook Integration: Heating up!
UnitedDogs promotes it's facebook application through many avenues, and it seems to be paying off. they have 931 active monthly users. Not too shabby.
Nevertheless, still strike 3 for me.
The Best Doggy Social Network for Facebook Is...
...not a social network at all.
WTF?
With facebook allegedly growing at the rate of 600,000 users per DAY, UnitedDogs' 931 active monthly users wasn't indicitive of a robust facebook userbase.
What else could there be?
Enter DogBook.
No dot com on the end of that one. It's a doggy social network completely native to facebook.
Want to guess how many monthly active users? Go ahead, take a shot at it. I'll wait...
At the time of this writing, the number is 506,611 active monthly users.
HOME RUN!
After I added this app I immediately saw that 22 of my friends already had this app installed on their profiles. Bingo. Instant connection...which is the way it should be.
Dogbook offers:
VERY similar to the feel of a normal facebook profile, complete with a wall
groups
dog parks to join (and the ability to add new ones)
Photo/video upload
and much more...
So if you're like me and you're looking for a great facebook friendly social network for dogs, look no further than facebook itself.
If you choose to go the route of Dogbook, feel free to add my black lab mixes, Sophie and Ender, as friends.
Which social network do you prefer for your pups and is facebook integration a big deal to you like it is to me?
Jeffrey, you should totally check out Fido Factor. We just launched in June in the Bay Area but are growing rapidly. We have Facebook Connect integrated into the site so you can see your friend's reviews. This week we are finishing our new iPhone app which will also include Facebook Connect. After that we're going to be building out dog profiles and more social networking tools. We're mostly in Boston and San Francisco but we're adding new cities now and trying to have national coverage by the end of the year. www.fidofactor.com
I encourage everyone to check out Fido Factor, not only can you find dog friendly places and other local dogs, but each review or location added equals dollars for the SPCA! They are just starting out and are focused mostly on San Francisco and Boston but are expanding rapidly. http://www.fidofactor.com/
This is a new site to challenge your top 3, it's called Dogpawfile and it's new to the pet lovers social networking scene, what makes it great is that it is moderated and very very friendly!
although it does not have a facebook app yet that i have seen, one social networking site that offers more than most of the ones listed above is doggyspaces.com (notice the "s" on the domain). i think they have been around longer than doggyspace....very nice, clean site that has been flying under the radar....can do everything you can do on myspace and they even have online doggy dating lol! check it out if you get a chance to...
awesome anne! i assume u use twitpic then? i'm a big twitter user too, but i think it's just different than facebook. Facebook is cool because u are usually networking with people you actually know (or at least knew once upon a time) in real life. I think twitter emphasizes new connections with people you don't really know.
cool stuff.
i haven't tried tubemogel. u like it better than youtube?
Yeah, I haven't jumped on the doggie facebook app bandwagon. But I've had a ton of fun and success playing around with Twitter (posting pics) and uploading dog related videos via TubeMogel.
ha ha ted, no worries...you weren't too techy. Just so ya know (and as I think it's clear from my post here), if I hadn't been looking specifically for good facebook integration, I would have definitely chosen Dogster as my dogs' social network. Keep rockin' out the fun times over there at Dogster.com!
Wait a woof? Did I just write about facebook app technicals on a site called The Fun Times Guide!
Boring! Sorry for putting you all to sleep.
Here are some links to some fun dog and cat breed guessing games we made.
http://www.dogster.com/games/dog-breed-photo-game/
http://www.catster.com/games/cat-breed-photo-game/
Bow wow, meow!
Woof woof! Nice review. You have us (dogster/catster) spot-on with regards to our Facebook apps. Turns out a good facebook app requires a lot of work and insight. Our hat is off to Dogbook/Catbook, but they already know that. They nailed it and made pretty much the perfect social dog app, and we didn't even want to try and compete.
Facebook, however, has continued to make app development less and less enticing. They've moved apps off to secondary tabs, severely restricted communication channels, and can still replicate your app anytime they want. So for us it's too big a risk, with very little potential pay off.
We found it's so much more beneficial to focus on our web communities Dogster and Catster which know are home to 650,000 pet profiles. Our members and visitors love it, and our advertisers are much happier connecting with them on our website than on the less trustworthy facebook.