A Comparison Of Different Social Networking Sites

If you are a newcomer and wish to start social networking, there are quite a few popular networking sites which are offering free services as well as paid services to members. Though there are sites which focus on certain groups and are based on status, profession, religion, business, and romance or even hobbies, however, the end result of all the sites is the same, to enhance social networking capabilities of its members.

Every Site Has Its Individuality
In most of the social networking sites you have to give a description of yourself, once you become a member. You have to give a general description of yourself like your name, address, likes, and dislikes, hobbies, interests, birthday, marital status and whatever other information you wish to give. This becomes your profile, which can be viewed by other members and you are judged for what you are on the basis of this profile.

Let us discuss a few well known sites and their membership criteria. The first one is obviously Orkut. It was developed by a software engineer of the same name working with Google. You can make new friends thereon and exchange photos if you like to. Orkut does not charge any fee to enroll new members. This networking site has no ads nor does it give any.

Another popular social networking site is Friendster. Just like Orkut, you have to give a general description of yourself before becoming a member. The questionnaire is not as comprehensive as Orkut’s. Friendster is a site where you can meet new people and make friends quite easily. The attitude here is more open and inviting. There is no fee and there are no ads.

Tickle is another social networking site which goes a bit ahead and becomes a match-making site as well, offering test results and groups to its members. Some of the services of Tickle are free and some come with a fee. Tickle does some advertisements and it has a good base of members. As of today it has about 18 million members.

LinkedIn is a social networking site which provides an avenue to the professional fraternity to come together on one platform. To create the ambience it propagates, the registration form for new members looks like a curriculum vitae when it asks for your job profile. You have to give your job description, current employer’s details, past experience and professional qualifications to join in. Membership is by invitation only. Besides Linkedin there are other sites also like Ryze and MeetUp which are based on specific requirements. Both sites are by invitation.

Social Networking for online business owners
AdLanPro is a community that gives you a chance to network with network marketers who may be in the same field or share similar interests as yourself. You can also generate leads here because you develop relationships with people and thus they are more inclined to listen to your offers because of the relationship you have built.

Direct Matches is the first in the online business and social networking industry to deploy a multi-matchmaking system that helps people locate everything from business contacts to network marketing professionals. It is the first business and social networking service with a contact management system that operates on a "dynamic basis", where members are able to select from dedicated networking communities.

Until next article,


Ed Torres
www.etorres.ws