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| All About Social Networking |
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What is Social Networking?
Social networking is the process of connecting entities togather based on their social bonds or ties. It usually
ties in directly with the six degrees of seperation theory which is that everyone in the world is connected to each
other through six other people. Social networks can grow and propagate naturally based upon your natural social
evolution or they can grow artificially by first connecting to other people and then building social bonds with them.
History of Social Networking
Social networking has been around a long time on the internet. However, most of the time it was never refered to as
"social networking", or "social software". Examples of popular social software that existed before social
networking became a buzz word are: IRC (Internet Relay Chat), Instant Messaging (the friends list), Forums (againt the friends list),
Blogs (backlinks and organic linking between friends), Webrings (in essence social software), Napster (Peer to Peer software),
Groove (shared browsing and collaberation), NeoPets, and too many others to list here.
Recently, in 2003 with the advent of FriendSter, social networking became a widely recognized phenomenon (buzzword)
and has spiraled outward manifesting itself in previously unimagined (or undefined) places. Everyone and their dog (literally) has
jumped on the social software bandwagon including Amazon.com, Google, ICQ, and dating sites like Tickle and FriendFinder.
Not to mention various other sites and software that have now included aspects of social software into their current
offerings such as: HotorNot (with Yafro), Monster.com, Eurekster, Reunion.com, and many others. There are also smaller sites
with nitch markets like Dogster (does your dog need a network?) or MediaChest (a network site for organizing, borrowing, or
loaning out physical media like DVDs, books, or CDs).
Social Network Players
The following tables are a sampling of "friend" based and "business" based network sites. The major and minor
classifications are based on the traffic numbers available from Alexa circa mid 2004. Major network sites usually being sites having
between 1 and 10,000 Alexa rating and Minor network sites having between 10,000 and 100,000 Alexa rating.
Major Friend Networking Players
- FriendSter
- MySpace
- Tribe.net
- Hi5
- Yafro
- FriendFinder
- Tickle
- Orkut
- YeeYoo
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Minor Friend Networking Players
- FriendSurfer
- Backwash
- FriendsReunited
- Friendset
- Friendzy
- FunHi
- HeiYou
- Hipstir
- Metails
- NetFriendShips
- UUFriends
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Major Business Networking Players
- ecademy.com
- Eliyon.com
- Ryze.com
- MediaBistro.com
- network.monster.com
- Open Business Club (openBC.com)
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Minor Business Networking Players
- ItsNotWhatYouKnow.com
- LinkedIn.com
- Spoke.com
- Shortcut.nu
- ZeroDegrees.com
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There are a plethora of other social software sites that have lesser traffic, networking is not their main
focus, or they fall outside of "friend" and "business" which I have not listed above. There are other websites you can search for via
Google where you will find a full list of known social networking sites. They are often refered to as "Yet Another Social
Network Site" (YASNS).
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