There are many social networking sites across the vast expanse that is the internet. We have significantly narrowed this down to the top three. As of now, these are what we believe to be the best and most-used social networks on the internet in North America, though this list is obviously subject to change as many other networks are gaining ground and some at the top (MySpace) seem to be losing a significant amount of steam.
If you’re on a computer at all these days. You’re probably on Facebook, or have at least heard about it. Facebook is a social networking site started originally only for students and also began as invitation only. Now a cultural sensation, it’s spreading worldwide with an estimated 400+ million users. Internationally there are more Facebook members than Myspace. Facebook is considered the leader among the social network web-pages. Their network consists of many different individual networks founded around educational institutions, corporations, small business and geographical regions. Registration is now open for all, yet the site is still focused highly on the high school and collegiate demographics, with special attention paid to networking groups and activist forums
MySpace is very popular and still receives much traffic, but is not for the business minded blogger or family-friendly user. The advantages for MySpace include the ability to upload and share videos, audio and images, and blog with one site. However, blogs are not the main business of MySpace; MySpace’s focal point is social networking. One of the problems one can have with MySpace in terms of sharing content with family or business is that not many want to send their partners or family members to a site that shows the type of users and content MySpace regularly promotes. MySpace gives you a link to your blog so you can have a direct connection with someone, but if they had to find your blog through search methods, it is virtually impossible to do. Search results often produce less-than-family-friendly outcomes. If your main interest is social networking and non-serious MySpace will work for you, otherwise try a custom WordPress. It remains great for musicians, models and media personalities.
Aside from Facebook, Twitter.com is the fastest growing social networking website. As they describe themselves, “Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what’s happening now.” Also considered a microblog site, Twitter has a mobile phone focus, however one is not required to use the service. The character limit on posts is set at 140, which initially matched SMS text message limits for phones. This limit has in-turn extended the usage of URL shortening services. Twitter is great for cross promotion because of these factors, adding short comments paired with links to outside content. And with more than 75 million users and growing, it is a great way to expand your audience or user-base.
Others of Note
Internationally, Qzone in China (200+ million users), Vkontakte in Russia (75+ million_ and Orkut based out of Brazil are leaders. LinkedIn is the leader for business networking and is often called the Facebook of business. Additionally blog sites such as Ning, Blogspot, Livejournal and WordPress installs are handy networking tools. Even sites such as Youtube Last.FM and DeviantArt can be great promotional devices.
Tags: Best Social Websites, Facebook, myspace, Social Networking, Top Social Networks, Twitter