Take a moment to review this so called top 10 social networking sites.  According to http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com, the following are the top 10 social networking sites in the US. Either I have a serious misunderstanding of social networking or this list is just plain wrong.  At the very least, I would like to know how they came to their conclusions!

As the graphic on the left implies, there are alot of social networking sites out there.  Should you just be focused on the top 10 as that are listed here?  Unlike alot of so called social media gurus, I am saying…I don’t know!

Why don’t you know that these are the best sites for my company/brand to be associated with?

Simply said, anyone who blindly tells you that you need to be on the “big three” or “holy grail” of social networking sites without understanding your business is uneducated at the least and perhaps is just another “wanna be” social media consultant!  I can’t tell you which sites you should be engaged in until I know about your company, its’ objectives and where you are at with the rest of your marketing.  You don’t deserve anything less!

Either way, I would like to know which of these you may have used or are currently using.  And can you tell me why you use them?  That is of interest to me as I want to learn where best to direct people that ask.  And that is a regular question that is asked of us…“What sites should I be using?”

1. Facebook – The network is made up of hundreds of separate networks based around schools, businesses and regions. Although registration is now open to the public, the site still caters to a college and high school demographic focusing on networking through groups and social activism. Profiles allow users to post pictures, comments, blogs and apps. Additionally, it has some of the best privacy options on the Internet. We felt that Facebook really encouraged using the site to foster relationships with people you already know, or friends of friends. Within hours, we were already in touch with scores of old friends, relatives and acquaintances. 
2. MySpace – MySpace is extremely popular and receives a lot of traffic, but is not for the serious blogger. The advantages to MySpace include the ability to upload and share video, audio and image files as well as a blog. But blogging is not the main business of MySpace, MySpace’s central focus is social networking. 
3. Bebo  – Bought by AOL, the “TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award” winning social network service has been gaining ground in the United States, it’s been nothing but good news and consistent growth. Extraordinarily popular in the UK, Bebo is beginning to give some of the other social networking sites a real run for their money. Like other sites you can personalize your profile, add apps, set privacy settings and join groups. 
4. Friendster – Friendster is one of the most popular social networking sites in Asia. Now, it is starting to make an impact in the United States. Friendster provides plenty of networking features, the ability to customize your personal profile and to get you on your way to establishing a large network of friends. Discover other avenues of expression by posting blogs and joining forums. You can choose from a variety of extra features like videos and groups. Friendster tries to cater to a slightly older crowd requiring users to be at least 16 to join. 
5. hi5 – Give yourself a virtual high–five when you join the global social networking website hi5. Don’t limit your circle of friends to people you know from school or your neighborhood; with more than 70 million members, explore the unlimited possibilities of connecting with people all over the world for free. Additionally, we noticed hi5 is completely advertisement free. hi5 offers profile customization, security options and apps. A few of the things keeping hi5 out of our top three is the difficult search options, their sad help and support section and dependency on apps. 
6. Orkut – Orkut is Google’s attempt at social networking. Already popular in Brazil and India Orkut is struggling to make headway in the United States. In order to register for an Orkut account you must have a Gmail account and all your Orkut updates, messages and friend requests will be forwarded to your Gmail account. Orkut is your typical social networking site still in infancy. You create your profile filling in your likes and interests. However, Orkut has seemed to take a page from Facebook and does not have any customization options.  You can upload photos, create albums and add apps. You can also add scraps which includes things like YouTube URLs, widgets, photos, podcasts and more. It is specifically for friends. Other people just browsing your account won’t be able to see it. We found that most people use the scraps like comments. 
7. Perfspot – Compared to some of the other social networking sites in our review, PerfSpot is a relatively new kid on the block. Like most social networking sites PerfSpot offers videos, music, customizable profiles, applications and groups. You can even open your own Internet store. Although PerfSpot allows users as young as 13 to join, the site is aimed at college students and young professionals providing a more adult atmosphere. That’s not to say the site is adult oriented, but sections like “PerfNights” is a section dedicated to pictures of people drinking and partying. The profiles of users under the age of 18 do not appear in a general search. A unique feature to PerfSpot is the ability to set up an Internet store using PerfSpot at your host. It’s your own little ecommerce site. All you need is a PayPal account and some stuff to sell. They also offer free online storage. You can upload an unlimited number of documents and files to your PerfSpot account. You can upload homework, PDF files, data reports and more from a wide variety of extension options.  PerfSpot also has videos from most of the major networks and Hulu. There are music videos, television shows, movies and more. There is also a substantial music section that lets you to listen to thousands of songs and add them to your profile playlist. However, we noticed you do not have the ability to upload your own videos to the site. 
8. Yahoo360  – Yahoo! 360 is a free web service that has all the features and extras of a great social networking website; although, it is designed a little differently than the other sites we reviewed. As a matter of fact, we had a difficult time just getting to the service through a typical Yahoo account. To join Yahoo! 360 you must have a Yahoo! account and be at least 18 years old.Yahoo! 360° offers networking features such as customized profiles, friend networks, photos, chats and blogs. You can choose from over one hundred profile skins, upload multiple photos, upload videos, music and post your own blog. You can also personalize your Yahoo! 360 homepage with different color schemes and layouts as well as add or delete your favorite news feeds, scoreboards and weather alerts. Use browse or search by gender and age to locate other Yahoo! 360° members. Click on a member’s name or photo to access their profile page; from there you can post comments or invite them into you network of friends.Your privacy settings can be adjusted for each section of your profile like name, location, age and email address. You can also choose whether you want to be included in a general database search. 
9. Zorpia – Zorpia.com is the largest social network you’ve never heard of. Zorpia has a large international community; its features include profile customization, a fair selection of networking features and an incredibly detailed search. On the whole, Zorpia is your typical social network. 
10. Netlog – Netlog is a European social networking site with more than 35 million user and is relatively unknown in the United States. Here you can set up a profile, add pictures join clans (groups), upload videos and listen to music all while networking with your friends. We particularly liked that the site is completely advertisement free. The minimum age to join Netlog is 13. You can adjust your profile’s security settings to be as open or private as you want. You can adjust if your profile can be found using a simple search, or who specifically can access your profile, or if only people in your age range and location can contact you. You can also use the Netlog whitelists and blacklists to accept or block specific users.

Are you interested in how to use social media in your business? Don’t know where to start or which sites you should be using for your business?

Believe it or not, not doing social media right can actually harm your business.

If you are looking for free tips or advice on how to approach your social media, go to Social Media Dudes

Or follow our tweets on Twitter at twitter.com/johnpanico

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

7 Responses to “Are You On These Top 10 Social Networking Sites?”