The phrase niche is popping up everywhere across the internet right now. Niche marketing, niche social networks, niche products, niche membership sites etc. Give it a try and google it.

The bottom line is that niche anything is working. If done well people are making money and growing millions of micro niche networks around the web.

I feel that the future of web resides in the hands of these niche networks specifically because as they grow they become hyperlocal. Hyperlocal in how they create connectivity, movement and interactivity. You could also say that they become vertical networks rather than a pancake style model of facebook or myspace which is essentially a horizontal network.

Part of the reason of how I see this connection is that that in the real world we see locality as based on a model of physical location. Online however locality is based on access rather than physically proximity.

As niche networks aggragate even the smallest of the small detail into a whole you begin to experience an aspect of hyperlocal.

As these networks continue to grow you will begin to see how these vertical niche networks actually creates their own little world.

Will Google eventually become a search engine dedicated to locating niche networks? Will these networks allow Google access to index content from the networks?

Who knows but one thing is for sure. In the hyperage you are going to need a way to travel from one hyperlocal world to the next.