List of Social Networking Sites

2009-11-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

List of active social networking sites with descriptions or focus and approximate number of registered users.

Name	Description/Focus	Registered users	Registration
Adult FriendFinder	Adults Only Porn Network	33,000,000	Open
Advogato	Free and open source software developers	13,575	Open
Amie Street	Music		Open
ANobii	Books		Open
aSmallWorld	European jet set and social elite	270,000	Invite-only
Athlinks	Running, Swimming	68,496	Open
Avatars United	Online games.		Open
Badoo	General, Popular in Europe	37,000,000	Open to people 18 and older
Bebo	General.	40,000,000	Open to people 13 and older
Bigadda	Indian Social Networking Site.	3,000,000	Open to people 16 and older.
BigTent	organization and communication portal for groups		Open to people 18 and older (13-18 parental permission encouraged
Biip	Norwegian Community.	13476	Requires Norwegian phone number.
BlackPlanet	African-Americans	20,000,000	Open
Blogster	Blogging service that lets users "add friends" or establish business connections to their profiles.	58,344	Open
Broadcaster.com	Video sharing and webcam chat	322,715	Open
Buzznet	Music and pop-culture	10,000,000	Open
CafeMom	Mothers	1,250,000	Open to moms and moms-to-be
Cake Financial	Investing		Open
Care2	Green living and social activism	9,961,947	Open
Classmates.com	School, college, work and the military	50,000,000	Open to people 18 and older[32]
Cloob	General. Popular in Iran.		Open
College Tonight	College students.		requires an e-mail address with an ".edu" ending
CouchSurfing	Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.	1,118,447	Open
DailyBooth	Photo-blogging site where users upload a photo every day		Open
DailyStrength	Medical & emotional support community - Physical health, Mental health, Support groups		Open
Decayenne	European and American social elite		Invite-only
DeviantART	Art community	9,040,962	Open
Disaboom	People with disabilities. (Amputee, cerebral palsy, MS, and other disabilities.)		Open
dol2day	Politic community, Social network, Internet radio (German-speaking countries)	40,200	Open
DontStayIn	Clubbing (primarily UK)		Open
Draugiem.lv	General (primarily LV, LT, HU)	2,400,000	Invitation only
Elftown	Community and wiki around Fantasy and sci-fi.	185,000	Open, approval needed
Epernicus	For research scientists		Open
Eons.com	For baby boomers		Open to people 13 and older
Experience Project	Life experiences		Open
Exploroo	Travel Social Networking.		Open
Facebook	General.	300,000,000	Open to people 13 and older
Faceparty	General. Popular UK.	200,000	Invitation only to people 18 and older.
Faces.com	British teens		Open to people 13 and older
Fetlife	People who are into BDSM	32,500	Open to people "of [legal] age to see adult content"
Filmaffinity	Movies and TV Series	250,000	Open
FledgeWing	Entrepreneural community targeted towards worldwide university students.		Open to university students
Flixster	Movies	63,000,000	Open to people 13 and older
Flickr	Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide	32,000,000	Open to people 13 and older.
Fotolog	Photoblogging. Popular in South America and Spain.	20,000,000	Open
Friends Reunited	UK based. School, college, work, sport and streets	19,000,000	Open to people 13 and older.
Friendster	General. Popular in Southeast Asia. No longer popular in the western world.	90,000,000	Open to people 16 and older. No children allowed.
Frühstückstreff	General	14800	Open
Fubar	dating, an "online bar" for 18 and older	1,200,000	Open
Gaia Online	Anime and games		Open to people 13 and older
GamerDNA	Computer and video games	310,000	Open
Gather.com	Article, picture, and video sharing, as well as group discussions	465,000	Open
Gays.com	Social network for LGBY community, Guide for LGBT bars, restaurants, clubs, shooping	100,000	Open. Global
Geni.com	Families, genealogy	5,000,000[	Open
Gogoyoko	Fair play in Music - Social networking site for musicians and music lovers		Invite only while in beta
Goodreads	Library cataloging, book lovers		Open
Gossipreport.com	Anonymous gossip		Open to people 16 and older
Grono.net	Poland	2,000,000	Open
Habbo	General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat Room and user profiles.	117,000,000	Open to people 13 and older
hi5	General. Popular in India,Portugal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa and Latin America. Not popular in the USA.	80,000,000	Open to people 13 and older. No children allowed.
Hospitality Club	Hospitality	328,629	Open
Hyves	General, Most popular in the Netherlands.	9,000,000	Open
ibibo	Talent based social networking site that allows to promote one's self and also discover new talent. Most popular in India.	3,500,000	Open
imeem	Music, Video, Photos, Blogs	24,000,000	Open
IRC-Galleria	Finland	505,000	Open to Finnish speaking people 12 and older
italki.com	Language learning social network. 100+ languages.	450,000	Open. Global.
InterNations	International community		Invite-only
itsmy	Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows	2,500,000
iWiW	Hungary	4,000,000	Invite-only
Jaiku	General. Owned by Google.		Open to people 13 and older.
Jammer Direct	Creative resource website		Open to the General Public
kaioo	General, nonprofit	30,000
Kaixin001	General. In Simplified Chinese; caters for mainland China users		Open to the General Public
Kiwibox	General. For the users, by the users, a social network that is more than a community.	2,400,000	Open to people 13 and older.
Last.fm	Music	30,000,000	Open to people 13 and older
LibraryThing	Book lovers	400,000	Open to people 13 and older
lifeknot	Shared interests, hobbies		Open to people 18 and older.
LinkedIn	General but mainly business	50,000,000	Open to people 18 and older.
LiveJournal	Blogging	17,564,977	Open (OpenID)
Livemocha	Online language learning - dynamic online courses in 22 languages - world’s largest community of native language speakers.	3,000,000	Open
LunarStorm	Sweden		Open
MEETin	General		Open
Meetup.com	General. Used to plan offline meetings for people interested in various activities.		Open to people 18 and older.
Meettheboss	Business and Finance community, worldwide.		Open
Mixi	Japan	24,323,160	Invite-only
mobikade	mobile community, UK only		Open to people 18 and older
MocoSpace	mobile community, worldwide	3,000,000	Open to people 14 and older
MOG	Music		Open to people 14 and older
Mouthshut	Social Network, social media, consumer reviews		Open
Multiply	Real world relationships. Popular in Asia. Not popular in the western world.	10,000,000	Open to people 13 and older. No children allowed.
Muxlim	Muslim portal site	50,000	Open to people 13 and older
MyAnimeList	Anime themed social community	160,000	Open to people 13 and older
MyChurch	Christian Churches	144,295	Open
MyHeritage	family-oriented social network service	30,000,000	Open
MyLife	Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com)	51,000,000	Open
MyLOL	General. Popular in the United States, Europe and Australia.	32,000	Open to ages 13 and up.
My Opera	Blogging, mobile blogging, sharing photos, connecting with friends. Global.	3,000,000	Open
MySpace	General. Had lost some popularity in 2007 and 2008, but has started to experience a slight renaissance lately.	263,920,102	Open to ages 13 and up.
myYearbook	General	5,100,000	Open to age 13 and up & Grades 9 and up
Nasza-klasa.pl	School, college and friends. Popular in Poland.	11,000,000	Open
Netlog	General. Popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab World and Canada's Québec province. Formerly known as Facebox and Redbox.[124]	56,200,000	Open to people 13 and older
Nettby	Norwegian Community.		Open
Nexopia	Canada	1,400,000	Open to people 13 and older [128]
NGO Post	Non-Profit news sharing and networking, mainly in India	15,000	Open
Ning	Users create their own social websites and social networks		Open to people 13 and older
Odnoklassniki	General. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics	40,000,000	Open
OkCupid	Social networking and dating		Open to people 18 and older
OneClimate	Not for Profit Social networking and Climate Change		Open to People of all ages and locations
OneWorldTV	Not for Profit Video sharing and social networking aimed at people interested in social issues, development, environment, etc.		Open
Open Diary	First online blogging community, founded in 1998.	5,000,000	Open to people 13 and older
Orkut	Owned by Google. Popular in Brazil and India.[137]	67,000,000	Open to people 18 and older, (Google login)
OUTeverywhere	Gay/LGBTQ Community		Open
PartnerUp	Social networking site for entrepreneurs and small business owners	150,000	Open and Free
Passportstamp	Travel		Open
Pingsta	Collaborative platform for the world's Internetwork Experts		Invite-only, only Internet Experts
Plaxo	Aggregator	15,000,000	Open
Playahead	Swedish, Danish,Norwegian teenagers		Open
Playboy U	Online college community		Open to college students with .edu e-mail address
Plurk	Micro-blogging, RSS, updates		Open
Present.ly	Enterprise social networking and micro-blogging		Open
Qapacity	A a business-oriented social networking site and a business directory		Open to people 16 and older
quarterlife	A social network for artists, filmmakers, musicians, and creative people		Open to people 14 and older
Qzone	General. In Simplified Chinese; caters for mainland China users	200,000,000	Open to the General Public
Ravelry	Knitting and crochet	331,000	Invite-only while in beta
Renren	Significant site in China. Was known as 校内 (Xiaonei) until August 2009.	15,000,000	Open
ResearchGATE	Social network for scientific researchers	140,000	Open
Reverbnation	Social network for musician and bands	25,000	Open to people 16 and older
Ryze	Business	500,000	Open
scispace.net	Collaborative network site for scientists		By invitation, but can request an invitation
Shelfari	Books		Open
Skyrock	Social Network in French-speaking world	22,000,000	Open
SocialGO	A social network builder that allows users to build their own online communities		Open to people 18 and older.
SocialVibe	Social Network for Charity	435,000	Open
Sonico.com	General. Popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions.	17,000,000	Open to people 13 and older.
Soundpedia	Music		Open
Stickam	Live video streaming and chat.	2,000,000	Open
StudiVZ	University students, mostly in the German-speaking countries. School students and those out of education sign up via its partner sites SchulerVZ and Meinvz.	15,000,000	Open
Supernova.com	Independent music fans and artists.	200,000	Open
Tagged.com	General. Subject to quite some controversy about its e-mail marketing and privacy policy.	70,000,000	Open
TalentTrove	Online Talent Network		Open
Talkbiznow	Business networking		Open
Taltopia	Online artistic community		Open
TravBuddy.com	Travel	1,588,000	Open to people 18 and older
Travellerspoint	Travel		Open
tribe.net	General		Open
Trombi.com	French subsidiary of Classmates.com	4,400,000
Tuenti.com	Spanish-based university and High School social network. Very Popular in Spain	4,500,000	Invite-only
Tumblr	General. Micro-blogging, RSS		Open
Twitter	General. Micro-blogging, RSS, updates	44,500,000	Open
V Kontakte	Russian social network.	50,007,078	Open
Vampirefreaks	Gothic and industrial subculture	1,931,049	Open to users 13 and over
Viadeo	European Social Networking and Campus Networking in Seven Languages	6,000,000	Open
Vox	Blogging		Open
Wakoopa	For computer fans that want to discover new software and games.	100,000	Open
Wasabi	General		Open
WAYN	Travel and lifestyle	10,000,000	Open to people 18 and older
WebBiographies	Genealogy and biography		Open
WeOurFamily	General with emphasis on privacy and security		Open, subscription-based
Windows Live Spaces	Blogging (formerly MSN Spaces)	120,000,000	Open
WiserEarth	Online community space for the social justice and environmental movement[180]	28,300	Open to people 18 and older
Xanga	Blogs and "metro" areas	27,000,000	Open
XING	Business (primarily Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and China)	8,000,000	Open
Xt3	Catholic social networking, created after World Youth Day 2008		Open
Yammer	Social networking for office colleagues		Must have company email
Yelp, Inc.	Local Business Review and Talk		Open
Youmeo	UK Social Network (focus on data portability)		Open
Zoo.gr	Greek Web Meeting point	890,000	Open

Bing Leaps over Yahoo on it's 2nd Week Release

2009-06-11T01:51:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. unveiled on first week of June 2009 its newest search engine, Bing, which will be available worldwide on June 3. Designed to replace Live Search and complete with the other leading search engines, Bing isn't dubbed a "Google Killer" just yet; however, it does offer a few specialized features that are worth mentioning.

StatCounter's analysis for Thursday (June 4, 2009) finds that in the US Bing leapfrogged Yahoo to take second place on 16.28%. Yahoo! has 10.22%. Google still commands the US search engine market with 71.47%. StatCounter data globally finds that Bing at 5.62% has taken a narrow lead over Yahoo! (5.13%). Google worldwide retains 87.62% of the market.

If Bing continues on an upward trajectory, it could pose a challenge to Google as well. An informal survey by News portal One News Page suggested that 55% of users plan to replace Google with Bing as their main search engine. Bing's branding also seems to have taken off--65% of respondents claimed to like the name, while 90% said they would use the expression "to Bing it" as a colloquialism for searching on the web. Studies have found that user loyalty to search engines is low. A 2009 Forrester Research survey revealed that more than half of respondents used more than one search engine to locate information, and despite Google's online dominance, only 20% of users searched with Google exclusively.

Latest SEO Update and Information Resources

2009-02-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

SEO Information Resources

Google SEO Guidelines - Webmasters/Site owners Help. Google's brief information on search engine optimization. By following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site.

Google's SEO Starter Guide - Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide covers around a dozen common areas that webmasters might consider optimizing.

Search Engine Watch - Search Engine Watch is the authoritative guide to search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO), offering the latest news about search engines.

Marketing Terms - The Internet marketing dictionary at Marketing Terms.com. This dictionary will help you understand all of the search engine terms you come across.

Search Engine Relationship Chart - The First and Famous Search Engine Relationship Chart. This chart shows you which search engines are connected to each other so you know what search engines to submit your site to and optimize for.

SEO Beginners Guide - A comprehensive guide to the practice of search engine optimization for those unfamiliar with the subject. The guide covers dozens of areas of SEO including keyword research, page optimization, site structure, link building and more. Rand Fishkin writes a detailed guide on search engine optimization for beginners. It is a long read, but well worth it.

ISEDB - Internet Search Engine Guide to Search Engine Marketing and News

Search Engine Guide - Small Business Help for Website Promotion and Increased Search Engine Traffic.

Pandia - On Web searching and search engine marketing, with tutorials, news, search tools, reviews and SE optimization resources.

SEO Chat - Tackles Search Engine Optimization, Google Optimization

Search Engine Colossus - Find search engines from countries around the world with Search Engine Colossus Collosus Collossus - International Directory of Search Engines. This is a directory of all of the search engines in the world. If you are looking to target other countries, it is important to get familiar with the search engines in that country.

Thread Watch - Internet Marketing and Technology Discussed

SEO Resources 101

List of Social Networking Sites

Bing Leaps over Yahoo on it's 2nd Week Release

Google SEO Starter Guide in 40 languages

Latest SEO Update and Information Resources

SEO Information Resources