The following list is a very subjective view of the most important social networking websites. These aren’t necessarily the most popular websites for social networking or the oldest websites for social networking, but they are 15 of the most important websites, particularly for people running self improvement, business- or health-related sites.

1) Facebook.com: Was initially intended for college students — it branched out, and now allows everyone membership. 150 million members.

2) MySpace.com: 191 million members. This site is massive, boasting the largest membership of any social networking site on the Internet.

3) Linkedin.com: 12.5 million members — a powerful tool for business networking.

4) Friendster.com: 29 million members. Friendster was considered the top online social networking service until around April 2004, when it was overtaken by MySpace. Demographic studies indicate users are from 17 to 30 years old.

5) Stumbleupon.com: Boasting 2.75 million users, StumbleUpon is a web browser plugin that allows its users to discover and rate webpages, photos, videos, and news articles. A great way to get website promotion. Bought by eBay for $75 million in May 2007.

6) del.icio.us: The website del.icio.us (pronounced as “delicious”) is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in late 2003, and is now part of Yahoo!.

7) digg.com: Digg is a website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet, by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on submitted links and stories, in a social and democratic spirit.

Orkut.com: Orkut is an Internet social networking service run by Google and named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten. It claims to be designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Now has a membership of 57 million.

9) Twitter.com: A free social networking service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts that are up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. The site has become very popular in only a few months — a lot of people are watching it.

10) Classmates.com: 40 million members. One of the oldest social networking sites around, Classmates was kicked off in 1995, and has proven to be a great way for members to to connect with old friends and acquaintances from throughout their lives.

11) Meetup.com: 2 million members. Meetup.com is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. Meetup allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest, such as politics, books, games, movies, health, pets, careers or hobbies.

12) Yahoo! 360° (a.k.a Yahoo! Days) is a personal communication portal similar to orkut  and MySpace — it is currently in the beta-testing phase. It integrates features of social networking, blogging and photo sharing sites.

13) Xanga.com: 40 million members. Xanga is a free Web-based service that hosts weblogs, photoblogs, videoblogs, audioblogs, and social networking profiles.

14) Care2.com: 7.2 million members. Care2 is a social networking  website that was founded to help connect activists from around the world.

15) Ryze.com: .25 million members. Ryze.com is a free social networking website designed to link business professionals.

In all, there are over 100 social networking sites on the Internet. Some of the other social networking sites that I have not included in the list above are:

Bebo, BlackPlanet.com, Flickr.com, Reunion.com, aSmallWorld, Bebo, BlackPlanet.com, Blue Dot, Bolt, Broadcaster.com, Buzznet, CarDomain, Consumating, Couchsurfing, Cyworld, Dandelife, DeadJournal, DontStayIn, Doostang, Ecademy, eSPIN, Faceparty, Flickr, Flirtomatic, Fotki, Friends Reunited, Gaia Online, Geni.com, GoPets, Graduates.com, Grono.net, Hyves, imeem, Infield Parking, IRC-Galleria, iWiW, Joga, Bonito, Last.fm, LibraryThing, LiveJournal, LunarStorm, MEETin, MiGente.com, Mixi, MOG, Multiply, My Opera Community, myYearbook, Netlog, Nexopia, OUTeverywhere, Passado, Piczo, Playahead, ProfileHeaven, Pownce, RateItAll, Reunion.com, Searchles, Sconex, Shelfari, Soundpedia, Sportsvite, Studivz, TagWorld, TakingITGlobal, The Doll Palace, The Student Center, Threadless, TravBuddy.com, Travellerspoint, Tribe.net, Vampire Freaks, Vox, WAYN, WebBiographies, Windows Live Spaces, Woophy, XING, Xuqa, Yelp, Zaadz, Zooomr

Happy friending everyone.

Do you know what the main purpose of a social networking website is? If you are an avid internet user, you likely do. Social networking websites are online communities that make it easier for internet users to meet and communicate with each other. If you are an internet user who enjoys using the internet to meet new people, there is a good chance that you already belong to a social networking website. What about an online blog? Do you have one of them? If you do, do you know that you could use your social networking website to promote your blog?

Promote your blog? Why would you want to do that? Honestly, if you have to ask yourself that question you probably shouldn’t even have one. The whole purpose of a blog is to document your thoughts, views, and opinions on a particular topic, issue, or subject. What good will your blog do if no one reads it. In addition to sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world, did you know that you could also make money from your blog? You can signup for affiliate programs or other programs like Google Adsense. If you are using your blog to make money then you will defiantly want to promote it.

When it comes to promoting blogs, there are many blog owners who decide to let the search engine do the work for them. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN use special techniques that reads the content on your website. That content is then used to rank your website with particular keywords. This means that you run a blog on graduating from high school in New York, there is a good chance that your blog will appear in searches done on New York high schools. Although many blogs are successfully ranked in search engines, not all are. That is why you are advised against relying solely on search engines, when it comes to promoting your blog.

As previously mentioned, if you love meeting with or talking to people online, there is a good chance that you belong to a social networking website or community. The individuals that you talk to and that are in your community are likely the individuals that you wish to target. Since most social networking websites work to connect internet users who have the same goals and common interests, there is a good chance that your online friends will enjoy reading your blog. But, before they can read your blog, you have to let them know that it exists.

When it comes to promoting your blog on social networking websites, you have a number of different options. Your first option is to include a link to your blog in your community profile or profile page. This will allow other community members to checkout your blog, only if they wish to do so. The other way is to inform your online friends of your blog through private messages. Once you join a social networking website and create or join a network of friends, you should easily be able to communicate with those friends. Sending each of your friends a private message with information and a link to your blog tends to be more effective than just placing a link in your profile or on your profile page.

Although there is a good chance that you are already a member of a popular social networking website, you may not be. If you are not already a member, but would like to become one, you will need to find a social networking website to join. This can easily be done with a standard internet search. In your search, you will likely find a number of popular network sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, and Orkut. Before becoming a community member at one of these networking sites, you may want to first examine the website to ensure that it is everything that you want it to be.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways that you can go about promoting your blog on online social networking websites. You never known, but, in addition to promoting your blog, you may also make new friends along the way.

To your continual success!

Andy Huang

Join over 4,000 fellow members of the Web 2.0 community to celebrate the power and innovation of the East Coast web industry at Web 2.0 Expo New York, September 16–19 at the Javits Center.

Whether you’re a designer, developer, marketer, entrepreneur, business strategist, or technologist, whether you’re a geek or a suit that “gets it,” if you’re looking to understand and harness the changes taking place right now, this is the one event you need to attend this fall.

Conference Tracks

The New York conference agenda includes 4 tracks and a Focus track that takes a look at how Web 2.0 is impacting the workplace and business: Finance, Performance and Scaling, and 2.0 at Work.

• Design & UX
• Development
• Landscape & Strategy
• Media & Marketing
• Focus on: Finance
• Focus on: Performance and Scaling
• Focus on: 2.0 at Work

Workshops

In addition to the conference sessions, the workshops give you a hands-on opportunity to master the power of Web 2.0 technologies though a collaborative learning environment.

Expo

Meet face-to-face with over 100 exhibitors to test drive solutions — including some you don’t even know you need yet — and get feedback from your peers in the Web 2.0 community on what’s going to be really valuable to you.

Hotel And Travel

Web 2.0 Expo has negotiated special rates at several hotels. We recommend you make your hotel reservations for Web 2.0 Expo New York as soon as possible.

See you guys there!

Earlier in may, Google announced a preview release of the newest addition to its product mix, Google Friend Connect, a service that helps website owners grow traffic by enabling sites on the web to easily add social features to their websites.

By offering Friend Connect, which can be added to a web property by simply adding a snippet of code to the site, Google removes the technological barriers of offering social applications.

Website owners can now attract more traffic to their sites and keep them engaged utilizing the social gadgets created by Google and OpenSocial developers. Some of the main gadgets offered are member management, message board, reviews, and picture-sharing.

So in a nutshell, Google Friend Connect helps website owners in three major ways:

Increase Traffic -Visitors get engaged and bring along their Internet friends and connections from social networks such as Facebook, orkut and MySpace.

Improve Engagement KPIs – People can get more involved by getting engaged with social features developed by Google and the OpenSocial developer community.

Reduce Cost to Market - With no programming needed, the technological and financial barriers of adding social features to the sites are removed.

Friend Connect can also give Google more insight into the websites’ audiences by mapping a virtual representation of a social user on the web. This will eventually help Google provide more robust advertising through Google AdSense and Placement Targeting by providing demographic and interest segmentation.

This Google application has major implications on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing (SMM) as it incorporates user generated content to the sites.

Here is a video that shows how Google Connect works:

Have fun exploring this new tool from Google.

Andy Huang

Have you ever wanted to join a social networking website before? A large number of internet users have, but not all decide to join one. If you are like many other internet users, you may be worried about the networks that can be found online. Many of these networks, including MySpace and Yahoo! 360 have rapidly increased in popularity. This increase in popularity has led to a large number of members. In fact, some might say too many members.

One of the many reasons why Yahoo! 360 and MySpace have increased in popularity is due to the fact that they cover a wide variety of different topics, issues, and interests. MySpace and Yahoo! 360 do not focus on one particular group of individuals or one particular hobby. Instead, they invite all internet users to join. While this may be good, it gives you a wide selection of online friends to choose from, it can also be considered bad. On many of these websites a competition has brewed. That competition has been to see who can get the most friends. This may result in you not really getting an online friend, when you are supposed to be.

If you are looking to join a social networking website that is more focused on creating friendships or partnerships between internet users that have the same interests, you will want to focus on social networking websites that have a particular focus. Many times, these websites are known as specialty social networking websites. Online, you should be able to find a number of these specialty social networking websites. Many have focuses on important issues, topics, and hobbies, such as pet owners, religion, travel, and much more.

When it comes to many specialty social networking sites, many individuals want to know what sets them apart from the rest. Honestly, it is the community. As previously mentioned, specialty social networking sites tend to focus on a particular topic, issue, or hobby. This means that if you are a devoted Christian and you would like to speak to other Christians, you will want to join a Christian networking site and so on. The difference between specialty social networking sites and traditional ones is that you will automatically be paired with hundreds, if not thousands, of other internet users who share the same interests, views, or beliefs as you.

Another one of the many benefits to joining a specialty social networking website is that you are, in a way, safer than those who are members of other networks. Not all, but a large number of specialty networking sites require activation before joining the site. Before activation can occur, many internet users are required to state their reasons for wanting to the join the network or they may be required to fill out a small questionnaire, often pertaining to the social network in question. In many cases, this will help to determine whether or not an internet user really has an interest in the topic focused on by the network in question.

As previously mentioned, specialty social networking websites allow you to automatically be paired with a group of individuals who share the same beliefs, views, and interests as you do. This mean that you don’t have to spend hours researching a person or speaking to them, just to learn what they are or are not interested in. Essentially, this enables you to jump right in and start making friends, almost as soon as you are granted access to the site that you have chosen.

Have you ever thought about joining an online social networking community? If you love meeting new people, there is a good chance that you have given it some thought. Despite wanting to join, there are many individuals who make the decision not to. Are you one of those individuals? If so, is it because you feel overwhelmed? There are literally an unlimited number social networking websites out there to choose from and many are full of members.

While you would assume that it is nice to join a social networking website with a large number of community members, some individuals, maybe even yourself, feel that it is too much to handle. For instance, did you know that MySpace, a popular social networking website, has over one hundred millions members? If that isn’t overwhelming what is? If you are interested in joining an online networking community, but one that has fewer members, you are encouraged to look for social networking websites that have a particular focus. That focus is often on popular topics, issues, views, and interests.

A social networking website that focuses on one thing in particular is often referred to as a specialty social networking website. This is because, unlike traditional websites, not everyone can become a member. To become a member of a specialty social networking site, you must have an interested in the topic at hand. These websites drastically reduce the number of members. Although you will have less community members to socialize with, you will find that more have the same interests as you do. In that, a small number of internet users, with the same interests as yourself, is better than millions of members that you don’t have anything in common with.

If you are interested in finding a specialty social networking website, you are advised to perform a standard internet search. You will want to search using the words social networking site and whatever else you are looking for. For instance, if you are looking for a social networking website designed just for animal lovers, you may to combine the words social networking with animal lovers, pet lovers, cats, dogs, and so on. Whether you are searching for social networking websites that focus on a popular hobby, religion, or politics, you are sure to find that you are looking for.

In your search for specialty social networking websites, it is likely that you will come across Facebook or Classmates. Facebook and Classmates are both considered specialty social networking sites because they tend to focus on high school and college students, including those that are attending and those that have already graduated. Both of these websites work to connect you with individuals that you are currently going to school with or those that went to school with, in the past. If you have already graduated, Facebook and Classmates are great when looking to reconnect with old friends or even make new ones.

Other popular social networking websites focus on religion. Whether you are Christian or not, there are a large number of social networking websites that have a focus on religion. These websites not only allow you to meet other internet users, but they allow you to meet those that share the same beliefs and views as you do. By using a religious social networking website, such as HolyPal and JesusCrowd, you will not have to spend the time searching for those who are the same religion as you, you will automatically be entering a community where everyone preaches and believes the same things.

As previously mentioned, there are a fairly large number of specialty social networking communities that you can find online. These communities are not just limited to those that are for pet lovers, religious followers, or those looking to reconnect with old classmates, as mentioned above. With the way that social networking websites have increased in popularity, it is safe to say that you should be able to find an online networking community, no matter what your interests are.

Happy friending.

Andy Huang

It is estimated that each day, a fairly large number of individuals make the decision to join a social networking website. Social networking websites are websites that allow internet users to easily connect with other internet users, often from all around the world. While social networking websites are a great way to make online friends or start an online relationship, there are many internet users who are misinformed when it comes to social networking websites. That misinformation is largely centered on who can see their personal information.

Since a social networking website is often compared to a community, you would assume that only other community members would be able to read your personal information, right? In the real world, an unknown individual cannot just decide that they want to move into your neighborhood and live in your front yard, spying on your every move, so why should it happen online? If that is your way of thinking, you are wrong, in most cases. Unfortunately, many internet users are largely unaware of the fact that just about anyone can view their social networking profiles, including non-community members.

As previously mentioned, there are a large number of social networking websites that allow anyone one with internet access to view the profiles or profile pages of their members. In fact, the number is higher than you may have ever imagined. At the current time, just a few popular of the social networking websites that allow any internet user to view your profile include Yahoo! 360, FriendFinder, FriendWise, and MySpace. With a simple click of the mouse, information that you thought was private is no longer. That is why it is important that you examine what is actually posted in your profile or on your personal profile page before publishing it.

Although being cautious may take away from the fun of joining a social networking program, you are advised to be cautious. This cautiousness may help keep you safe. When building your social networking profile or profile page, especially on a website that anyone can view, you are advised to carefully select the pictures that you post. If you post a personal picture of your self, you are advised against posting your full name and, especially, your address. With a picture, your full name, and your address, an internet user with devious thoughts could spell trouble.

If you are one of the many social network users who wants to display your information, you are encouraged to learn more about private profile settings. Private profile settings will limit the number of individuals who can view your website. Although your profile’s private setting may prevent other network members from seeing your profile, it will also prevent anyone else from seeing it. The only catch with doing this is that since other community members cannot see your profile, you will have to be the one to contact with any new friends that you would like to invite to your network.

In addition to joining a social networking website that allows you to set your profile as private, you can join a network that automatically has profiles set as private. These social networking websites include, but are not limited to, Orkut and Facebook. With Orkut and Facebook, your profile will only be seen by other members. In fact, Facebook also limits the members that can see your profile. This is done to help ensure your safety online. However, as with all other social networking websites, it is fairly easy for you to make online connections and friends, but, in away, these private profile networking sites are a safer way to make those connections.

Now that you know exactly how social networking websites work and who can gain access to your personal information, you should know what you should and should not put in your profile or on your profile page. Although you are not required to change your information, you should at least think about it. As the old saying goes, you never know who is watching you.