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Online Social Networking Sites

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By WordPlay


I had two choices while writing this article: hunt down every online social networking site on the Internet and provide links but give little information about each, or provide more information about a decent selection of popular sites. I originally opted for the second choice, but then I thought of a third: review the more popular sites, and provide a link and a more abbreviated description for each of the rest. The result is the list below, which is only the first part of a larger collection of categorized sites.

If you know of any other online networking sites not included in the list at the end of this post, please leave a comment so I can add them. Thanks!

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Bebo

Bebo is a nicely designed site that offers online social networking where friends share information and explore different forms of entertainment. Their are a lot of cool applications that expand what you can do when you're in the Bebo environment, which means you'll probably want to have high speed internet service if you're a member. These include the BeFunky Cartoonizer that allows you to turn photos into cartoons; iLike, which lets you add music and videos to your profile; the ability to make song dedications to friends and participate in a music challenge; and much more. At the moment, this site is more popular in the U.K. than the U.S., but it can be used by anyone.


Bebo in the News

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Capazoo

Capazoo is unusual in that it combines online social networking with the ability to earn "zoops," which can be converted into cash at the rate of $0.01 per zoop. You earn zoops by getting "tips" from other users for your videos, music, photos, profiles and more; when you invite friends to join you at Capazoo; and for other member activities.

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Facebook music video overview

Facebook

Facebook advertises itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people around you." What that means in practical terms is that it is aon online social network that allows you to upload photos, publish notes, get news from friends, post videos in a profile, tag friends and join a network to see people who live, study, or work around you. Facebook is much like MySpace, but in my opinion, it's easier to navigate and better looking.



Facebook in the News


MySpace

MySpace touts that it's a great online venue to meet your friends' friends. And if your friends' friends are in bands or are celebrities, you'd have an even greater chance of finding them there. But plenty of other people use MySpace too. It's a happening online social network, even though it's not a very elegant environment. As of this writing, MySpace had just added ringtones, news and an Impact section, which focuses on giving back by helping the environment, getting involved in politics or donating either money or time to nonprofit organizations.

MySpace in the News

  • MySpace Replaces Imeem Playlists With AdsWired News1 second ago

    MySpace acquires imeem (earlier this month) for a fire-sale price, and now it has replaced the songs and playlists that music fans had embedded on blogs and other webpages with ads for ringtones and its music service.

  • MySpace Accepting Submissions for App ContestPC World1 second ago

    MySpace is now accepting submissions for its developer contest.

  • MySpace accepting submissions for app contestIT World1 second ago

    MySpace has opened the submission period for its Developer Challenge, a contest in which the company will award US$50,000 in prizes for new applications and for innovative uses of the social networking site's application programming interfaces.

  • Vampire Weekend Stream Entire New Album!Spin56 minutes ago

    Vampire Weekend's hotly-anticipated sophomore set is no longer under wraps. The band posted a stream of the entire album on MySpace today, a week prior to its January 12 release. Contra , which earned a four-out-of-five star review in SPIN , picks up where 2008's self-titled debut left off -- deeply awash in African-esque guitar riffs. But it's got an air of mystery, too: As SPIN reviewer Jon ...

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Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
Price: $13.70
List Price: $24.95
Twitter For Dummies Twitter For Dummies
Price: $10.98
List Price: $21.99
The Twitter Book The Twitter Book
Price: $10.79
List Price: $19.99
The World According to Twitter The World According to Twitter
Price: $6.24
List Price: $12.95

Twitter

Twitter is an online social network that allows people to stay connected through the exchange of quick, 140-character bursts of information. Some use Twitter as a cute time-waster on their sites or blogs, but it can actually be used to transmit useful information, too, such as letting everyone know when you're busy. Lately, it has become very popular for marketing, and if used correctly, it works well. And there's an application that allows you to use Twitter within your Facebook acount, as well as many other third-party apps created by Twitter fans.


Twitter in the News

  • Free Twitter seminar coming to RegisterOrange County Register16 hours ago

    Get a better understanding of Twitter on Jan. 12 at The Register.

  • Shah Rukh joins TwitterNDTV11 hours ago

    After Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra and Preity Zinta, now Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has joined social networking site Twitter. "Being extremely shy, I never thought I would be here (on Twitter).

  • Shah Rukh sets Twitter recordThe Times of India11 hours ago

    Shah Rukh went on Twitter on Saturday and within 24 hours he set a record by getting 10,000 followers.

  • Huffington Post falls prey to Twitter pranksters3news16 hours ago

    A Huffington Post spokesman says the left-leaning news and opinion website was not hacked when a Twitter social network feed emerged in its name and began issuing insults with a conservative bent.

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Yuwie

Yuwie features most of the same online networking features as the other sites on this page, but there's one big difference: they pay their users to generate traffic. Granted, you have to generate a lot of traffic to get paid, but that's possible if you sign up people underneath you and have some patience. But Yuwie earnings aren't entirely based on the efforts of other people. They pay you for your own page views as well.

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Additional Online Social Networking Sites

The following are more social networking sites that fall within the general category. If I left off one of your favorites, please leave me a comment below and I'll add it.

  • 43 Things Tag-based site centered around goals and life dreams
  • BlackPlanet The place to connect for African Americans
  • Faceparty Networking for British teens (must be over 16) and young adults
  • Friendster International social networking for people 18 and over
  • hi5 International social networking for young people
  • Jaiku This Google-owned site allows people to share their "activity streams" with friends, and is enabled for use on mobile phones
  • MEETin General networking backed by live regional events where you can meet your online friends in person
  • Meetup General networking that allows you to meet people in your city who share the same interests
  • My Opera General networking that allows blogging, photo sharing, etc. online and by mobile phone
  • myYearbook An online yearbook that grows with you as you get older
  • orkut This general social networking brought to you by the folks at Google is most popular in India and Brazil
  • Passado This London-based site claims to have Europe's largest social networking community
  • Searchles Offers searching, networking and social bookmarking in one place
  • Tagged Provides social networking for teenagers, especially high school students
  • Tribe.net Social networking that connects people in local communities
  • Yahoo! Mash Yahoo's social networking site is in beta at the time of this writing and requires an invitation

Comments

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Bob Ewing profile image

Bob Ewing  says:
2 years ago

Great info here.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Thanks, Bob. :-)

Bob Ewing profile image

Bob Ewing  says:
2 years ago

I use social networking and have my own site, this info keeps me on top of what is available.

Zsuzsy Bee profile image

Zsuzsy Bee  says:
2 years ago

Wew! I am behind times. I just don't know enough. I need to learn as much as possible. So thanks for explaining all the different sites.

Great HUB

regards Zsuzsy

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Zsuzsy Bee: It's okay if you aren't that familiar with the sites. It would be too hard to use them all anyway. My recommendation would be to choose one and get to know it. Once you've done that, you can expand out to others if you want to. Many of the features are similar from site to site, so most of what you learn on one site would carry over to the others.

Lissie profile image

Lissie  says:
2 years ago

I hope you get the dup content issue sorted because this is a very useful hub and doesnt deserve that low score! Giving a thumbs up!

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Thanks so much for your support and the thumbs-up, Lissie! I'm sure this low-score thing will get straightened out eventually.

Peter M. Lopez profile image

Peter M. Lopez  says:
2 years ago

Thank you WordPlay. Great info.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Thanks, Peter!

Sybille Yates profile image

Sybille Yates  says:
2 years ago

Excellent hub! SY

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Thanks, Sybille!

motherduck profile image

motherduck  says:
2 years ago

Nice Hub. The list of Web 2.0 sites is endless. It's almost impossible to keep up with them. But as you say, best to focus on a select few which bring you the best results.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Thanks, motherduck. You're right; the list is endless. The ones I included above are only a drop in the bucket.

highwaystar profile image

highwaystar  says:
2 years ago

You've put together a great hub wordplay, gGood all round resource with excellent info, thanks for sharing, cheers!

vreccc profile image

vreccc  says:
2 years ago

Wordplay: this is a great resource!! Thanks!!

I have never used 43 things. Is it still good for SEO purposes. I remember seeing there stuff in Google's organic results earlier on, but haven't seen them around in a while.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Thanks for the kind words, highwaystar.

Thanks to you, too, vrecc. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for your question about 43 Things. Due to time constraints, I restrict my postings to Propeller, Digg, Reddit and a few others that have high pagerank. So many blog posts, so little time!

askweb20 profile image

askweb20  says:
2 years ago

You did quite a job on putting all that information together. It is always good to know what the latest sites are since there are so many.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
2 years ago

Hi, askweb20. Thanks for your kind words!

wildstuff profile image

wildstuff  says:
2 years ago

Nice stuff. Most of them I hadn't heard of

Diane Corriette profile image

Diane Corriette  says:
2 years ago

Sometimes big isn't always better. If you are looking to build actual relationships with people rather than just promote stuff then the smaller network sites work well.

I run a social network for women internet marketers at http://www.womeninternetmarketers.net and what you find is that we are developing relationships with each other and helping each other when we are stuck.

www.Ning.com is a great place to start your own network and attract your particular niche to you. Its also a great place to find smaller targeted networks where you can promote and build relationships

It's a really informative list though... thanks

Diane Corriette Women Internet Marketers

ArtCantHurtU profile image

ArtCantHurtU  says:
2 years ago

I really liked your summations

I think you have done a good job summing up some of the communities that social sites are creating. For people who are just learning about social networkig - it is really confusing! that is why I liked your hub alot, you simplified the info and gave us your slant as well.

good job - do more!

Victor Goodman profile image

Victor Goodman  says:
16 months ago

MySpace, FaceBook, Yuwie and more.

They are just websites.

What if I told you there's software (actually a small browser plug-in) that enables social network functionally on every website on the internet.

It's true see for yourself

http://hubpages.com/hub/Web2Upgrade_BuzzBot

Groupnex  says:
15 months ago

Thanks for the informative posting.. We have our own online social networking site called www.groupnex.com. Would like to hear your feedback

Danne  says:
10 months ago

MyNetCrew social network is a recently launched Site

Members can create unlimited number of photo albums and upload an unlimited number of photos and communicate with friends for free.

http://mynetcrew.com

Research Analyst profile image

Research Analyst  says:
9 months ago

This is a good reference guide for any beginner who is looking into ways to market themselves as a brand because it will take building relationships to do that in the new technology of interactive web 3.0

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
9 months ago

Thanks for your kind words, Research Analyst. :-)

RobertHassey profile image

RobertHassey  says:
9 months ago

Good post. This will certainly help people who may want to promote their sites and expand their networks. That you can edit and add to your list is also a good thing. I'm an Internet marketing enthusiast and I'm always interested in ways to 'popularize' one's site and get more from one's network.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
9 months ago

Thanks for your comment, Robert!

Eecia  says:
9 months ago

Hello you can also try this new social networking site that helps people achieve their goals. Check it here -> http://www.humanhood.com

wordscribe41 profile image

wordscribe41  says:
7 months ago

Excellent hub. You mentioned quite a few I've never heard of. Capazoo sounds intriguing. I spend so much time on Facebook that I should be careful though. Thanks for the information.

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
7 months ago

Thanks, wordscribe41. I've been hearing more and more that a lot of people are spending time on Facebook. So you're not alone!

Rene Napoli  says:
7 months ago

Great sites.

SheMis profile image

SheMis  says:
7 months ago

Wow...so much to learn! I appreciate the info and you explain so well!

WordPlay profile image

WordPlay  says:
7 months ago

Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by, SheMis!

Jeremie Saya profile image

Jeremie Saya  says:
6 months ago

Hey WordPlay this is great Information. When ever you get time check out www.Aroundtheway.com, it's a new social network taking New York by storm.

www.funbyu.com  says:
6 months ago

http://www.funbyu.com is a social networking website where the members earn money.

Now doing ANY activity on www.funbyu.com will earn you money. Login and check out the "My earnings" TAB to know more.

Right from uploading content to inviting friends on funbyu.com to forwarding content to friends could earn you money.

What's more, even when you uploaded content is viewed it can earn you money.

So what Are you waiting for ..... login now and increase your activity and popularize your content.

Happy browsing.

http://www.funbyu.com

Southspice  says:
5 months ago

Nice and interesting social networking site lists really impressed me. www.youngisthan.co.nr, www.grou.ps/sandalwood also impressed me with their content, entertainment, friends interactivity, design etc.,

Dennis  says:
5 months ago

The latest social site to hit the net

"The Last Legal High.Com" The Social Site For Adrenaline Junkies.

This site is great for anyone that enjoys the natural highs in life, from family to helicopters, The list is endlest. http://www.thelastlegalhigh.com

Sara  says:
5 months ago

I came across this social network while at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, www.mizoon.com It has info about your location and businesses near by as well as friends if they are on your network. I even found a coupon for Snip-its in Palo Alto.

lyricsingray profile image

lyricsingray  says:
3 months ago

This is so helpful with me networking my own site-thanks tons! Kimberly

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