If you have been over the internet for any period of time, by now you must have realized that earning money online is a very hot industry. Oh yes, it is an industry in its own right! Any number of “internet marketing gurus” are touting their wares and dispensing expert advice on how to earn money online. It is true that a lot of people are making a living on the internet. Some are even making a killing! But it also true that for most of “us”, making money online is rather a difficult proposition. Hey wait, I said difficult, not impossible! Making money on the internet requires a great deal of application and time. It also needs a certain plan of action, or else you are not going to reach anywhere.

Nowadays, one thing that everyone (who is online) does is social networking. You must be using at least one of sites like Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Twitter etc. Maybe you are using more than one of these sites; maybe you are present on all of these. Social networking sites are all the rage these days. They are useful in growing business, learning of new opportunities or for just old-fashioned networking and reaching out to people. Quite a lot of people have graduated social networking into an addiction, whereby they spend most of their waking hours on these sites.

But there is a downside to all these social networking sites. All the time spent on these sites is really a time away from your primary money making activity. Well, there are indeed benefits of networking, like putting your business or skills in front of a larger audience, or connecting with the people in the same profession. Yet, time spent on these sites is primarily time away from making money.

What if I tell you that there are social networking sites that actually pay you to do what you love, that is, networking with people? Interested! I bet you are! So here is a list of the top five social networking sites that pay you for using them.

So how does all this work? Well, if you are reading this, it will be easy to explain. It works somewhat in a similar (not same) manner to Hubpages. That is, you provide the content (in the form of blogs, articles, pictures or videos), and the content is monetized by placing advertisements on the sites. The money that the website makes is then shared with the users. The big ones like Facebook and MySpace are not doing this (at least, not yet), but there are still a lot of smaller, but nevertheless, popular sites that share there revenue with the users. 

But before I start giving you the list, let me put a little caveat: It is not, repeat, not for anyone who is looking to get rich quickly. Just banish the thought! You may not even earn enough to make a living. And you will certainly not make a killing! So, what is the whole point of this list? Well, you can earn enough to pay for your annual hosting charges, or you may be able to pay for your internet broadband connection. You might make a little extra pocket money. The point is: if you are already using social networking sites, why not earn some money while doing it?

Now that I have rid myself of the caveat, here is the list (finally!):

Perhaps the oldest of the lot. You can share articles, news items, picture and videos with the other users of MyLot. You can build your own profile, participate in discussions based on your interest and make friends. You can even submit you own blog(s) to drive additional traffic. To earn extra money, you can participate in their referral program, where you can earn money by simply referring new users to MyLot. You earn money simply by referring, plus a percentage of what those referred by you make in the future. At the last count, this site had more than 150,000 active users.

Click Here to Join Mylot.com

This is another popular social networking site, and one that is growing, and works in quite the same manner as MyLot. You can make your own profile, particitate in discussions on topics of your interest; submit blogs, pictures and videos. Typically, Yuwie has all the features of a social networking site. It pays for the total number of page views. You can also earn additional money from referrals that work up to 10 levels deep. This means that you will get a percentage of what your referrals earn on Yuwie. If these referrals recruit additional users, you will make money on those new users too. This will continue up to 10 levels!

Click Here to Join Yuwie.com

A very interesting name for a social networking website! This website is perhaps the least known of this list. Obviously, this shares many features of the above mentioned sites. Add your blogs, pictures, videos or articles, or play online games on YouSayToo and share with the other users. You can also add your own blogs to get additional traffic, or you can just add RSS feeds from your blogs or from your profiles on other social networking sites like Facebook. The revenue on this site is earned through Adsense, which is split 50-50 with the users. You can also earn through adding your Amazon ID. And, of course, you can earn money from referrals, and their referrals! You can even participate in the frequent contests. One of the special features of YouSayToo is that instead of cashing your earnings, you can donate them to charities like Greenpeace and Red Cross.

Click Here to Join YouSayToo.com

Launched in 2005, Gather pitches itself as a social networking site with a difference. As mentioned on the homepage of gather.com, it is “social networking grown up – the site where you can keep up with the people, conversations and moments that matter”. You can share blogs, articles, pics and videos with the other users, or participate in dynamic groups according to your interest areas. You earn points for all your activities on the site. These points can then be redeemed for cash, or they can be exchanged for shopping coupons from retailers like Amazon, Target and Starbucks.

Click Here to Join Gather.com

Tagfoot is the latest addition to social networking sites that actually pay their users. I have found this site to be quite user friendly and clutter free. You can share articles, news, blogs, pictures and videos on Tagfoot. The community is also growing, and is great to interact with. How does Tagfoot pay you? Well, you get to add you Adsense code, and the revenue is shared. You can also use your Amazon ID to create a wish list of your favorite items. And oh, did I mention that you can earn money by referring your friends to Tagfoot? No? Well, you can!

Since Tagfoot is a new website, it is still in private beta, and entry is by invitation only. But hey, what are friends for? I invite you to join this growing community on Tagfoot. You can click on the link below to join this site.

Click Here to Join Tagfoot.com

So, this was a little list of social networking sites that pay their users to do what they like doing – connecting to people, networking, sharing and generally having fun. If you know of any more sites like these, you are indeed welcome to share them. I would love to hear from you and add to this list.

But let me reiterate what I said in the start of this hub: If you aim to make big money from these sites, you will be disappointed. Instead, use them for what they really are: social networking sites. And if you are able to make some extra money out of this, well, that is a welcome bonus! So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and have fun!