Social Networking Sites

There are so many Social Networking sites out there it is getting hard to keep track. It used to be that there was one major one at a time. Remember when everyone had a Myspace but then it got conquered by Facebook?

Now many exist, but are all used a little differently.

Let's start with the most common, Facebook. Now Mark Zuckerberg really pulled out all the stops with this one. But, it used to be inhabited by only college students and your school had to be added before you could join.  Now anyone can create a profile and you can add a million pictures, even ones that your friends rather you not put up. You can update your status with when you are going to the mall or who is winning the play-off game. You can create public or highly exclusive events. Create groups of people with interests similar to yours.  You can even take care of a virtual farm.  Facebook is now a part of everyday life. I would go as far as to say that it has become an addiction for some.

I do think that Facebook has taken it a little too far. People are too invested in browsing through other people's lives. You could spend hours checking in on what all your friends are doing, and while sometimes it may be entertaining, it is a little much. However, it does have it's perks.  It is a good way to keep in touch with people. Finding old high school friends has been made pretty simple as well.  Companies create profiles and you can learn more about them, follow their moves. It is a good tool.


Secondly Myspace. I remember when I created my Myspace profile. It was my first graze with social networking.  I still have a Myspace profile which was required for my internship. When I log on, it is like a different world. I notice that Myspace is the music place. They have tried to make it more like Facebook with the status updates and  such but I feel out of place because I am not in a band.  There are musicians and bands on Facebook but it is not the same.

Myspace has always been artist friendly. There are regular people who still use it and appreciate all it's Facebook-esque additions but at the end of the day every new band creates a myspace before a Facebook.

Now I am not very familiar with Friendster. I created a profile and browsed around a bit. It seems very cartoony. With the Treasure Chest feature it reminds me of a gaming site. Which I think a lot of people may use it as. One feature I did like is the Forum feature. It seems as though there is some good discussion flowing through there and there are a lot of helpful ideas there for all sorts of people.

There is also a classifieds section. Which Facebook has ( Marketplace) but I did not expect Friendster to have it on first glance.

Finally one of my personal favorite Social Networking sites is LinkedIn. This is unlike any other because it is a professional  networking site. It's Facebook for the professional world and it has remained that way. I can log on and join professional groups and browse jobs from industries I am interested in. I have some of my employers leave me recommendations right there on the site and I get to connect with other people in my field on a professional level. It is clean and easy to use and very helpful.

The fact that LinkedIn stays professional allows it to be more serious than Facebook can ever be. You are not bombarded with  status updates all the time and pictures. It is just employees, employers getting together. Sharing helpful tools and keeping it professional.

There is a social networking site out there for everyone. Weather you want to meet writers, or professionals, or find old friends, promote your band, etc. You can find it all on the internet.