A NEW player arrived on the social media scene on Friday with the launch of connectpink.com.au, a site designed especially for the women of regional Australia.
Fairfax Regional Media, publisher of the Lakes Mail has made a bold move into a space dominated by giants Facebook and Twitter, among others.
CEO and publisher Allan Browne said the time was ripe for a social media site that focused specifically on women.
"Women have always been connectors and networkers, creators of villages and builders of communities," Mr Browne said.
"That is why they have embraced social media more so than men have - it allows them to do what they've done forever, only now it is in the digital space."
ConnectPink content director Angela Carey said the site was not intended to compete with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like.
"ConnectPink provides a more personal alternative, a place where women can connect, chat, shop, swap, share and more in an environment that is safe and gives them a real sense of belonging to a community that is theirs."
Four million women live outside Australia's metropolitan cities and are served by more than 1.2 million local businesses.
ConnectPink's sales and marketing director Ros Marsden said ConnectPink gave both groups a unique space in which they could connect and interact with each other.
"We know from our newspapers' interactions with their local clients that there is a strong desire to take their businesses online. Many, however, find it difficult to find the time. ConnectPink does the hard work for them," she said.
Mr Browne said social media marketing was not taking over from traditional forms of advertising, but was complementing it.
"Smart business owners know that the best way to get their message out is to use a mix of mediums. ConnectPink further adds to the suite of options available from Fairfax Regional Media, and that includes traditional advertising in our newspapers."
