Occupation Specific Social Media Platforms - Afingo

Now, you've reconnected with all your school friends, work colleagues and everyone you've ever met via the wonders of Facebook. You get regular updates from your favourite celebrity and have instant access to comments on whatever takes your fancy on Twitter. But is any of this actually relevant to you, and to what you do for a living.

Yesterday a new social media platform was launched made specifically for the fashion world. Afingo (pronounced u-phing-oh)

a name that no-one can pronounce is a bold move but once you tell everyone how to pronounce it and that it means 'fashion' in Latin, you will look like a superstar!

Afingo aims to build up a network of Fashionistas, be it trend forecasters, designers, retailers or merchandisers to share and build information.

Maybe this is the ideal time to launch something like this. Before Christmas there was a slew of magazine houses having to close their doors, the recession and the rise of the internet causing their readership and following to diminish. Magazines like Elle now even offer 'digital subscriptions' where you can read their magazine online and not even get a hard copy sent through the post.

I personally love the look, feel and smell of a new magazine, the fragrance samples and advertising all add to the experience of a fashion magazine, taking this away just seems wrong.

But, we are discussing a fashion social network... Fashion companies already do well on sites like Facebook and Twitter. ASOS has over 180,000 fans on Facebook and 23,000 followers on Twitter - so fashionistas do find social media channels relevant to them.

So what does Afingo have to offer?
Afingo allows members to get insider information from their favourite brands and rate their products, it is also an e-commerce site that enables the user to purchase products directly through the site. Similar to the way ASOS utilizes Facebook and Twitter, contests will be posted onto the site.

The best feature of Afingo is the ability for emerging designers to showcase their work. Designers can post look-books and colour swatches and get feedback on their designs from the Afingo community.

Throughout January, Afingo is totally free to use. From February 2010, there will be a charge to use certain services on the site (you can choose whether you want to be a VIP for $49/per year or register as a designer or supplier for $299/per year).

I find the who e-commerce aspect of this very exciting. If Afingo can build up enough members and enough of a fashion following it will become an Etsy version of the fashion world, an amazing tool for budding designers.

I will register on the site today and check out the features to give you an update and a full review of the site.

Visit the site at www.afingo.com, register and let me know what your thoughts are.