With its debut in 2003, MySpace signaled a real shift in the way people use the Internet. During the last few years, dozens, if not hundreds, of online social networks have been created. Refreshingly, each of these online social networks has a personality of its own.
As these different online social networks cater to different groups, it becomes easier for users to find online social network that are both fun and productive. Too often people are on Facebook or Twitter simply because everyone else is. The ability to create new online relationships, however, may come from the ability to find the online social networks that are the right fit.
Here are a few:
Plurk
Similar to Twitter in its micro-blogging platform, Plurk relies on messages with character limits of 140 characters. Different from Twitter, however, Plurk places your comments on a timeline and allows your friends to make follow-up comments to exact comments, rather than simply putting up a message to everybody who follows them. Think of it as a cross between Twitter and an online forum.
43Things
One of the most common points of advice for people trying to achieve a goal (i.e., lose weight, train for a marathon) is to work with a partner. At 43Things, users make lists of 43 things they would like to accomplish, and are then matched up with other users who are also trying to reach the same goal. Users share encouragement, tips, tricks, and even success stories. When it is time for New Year's resolutions, 43Things could be the most helpful of online social networks.
Flickr
Owned by Yahoo, Flickr is the most popular of photo sharing online social networks. For users of Facebook and Myspace who love to share photos, Flickr is a perfect fit. With thousands of new photos uploaded every single minute at Flickr, one can find inspirational photos, kooky photos, vast landscapes, baby pics, and more. Flickr also allows the ability tag photos, making them search friendly for the millions of Flickr and Yahoo users who do image searches every day.
Propeller
Propeller began as Netscape, once upon a time. In time, however, as other search engines began taking larger shares of the search engine market, AOL (Netscape's parent company), pushed Netscape into the land of online social networks. Today, Netscape exists as Propeller, a social news site much like Digg or Reddit. The general appeal of Propeller, however, is that unlike Digg or Reddit, the community is overwhelmingly supportive, with no equivalent to "The Digg Police."
Online Social Networks: Wrap Up
With Ashton Kutcher becoming the first person with 1 million Twitter followers and Facebook being the fastest growing social network since the dawn of Myspace, it can be easy to jump on the bandwagon. With a little extra research and effort, though, users can find other online social networks that are more fitting to their individual personalities.
