Online Social Networks, Virtual Communities, Enterprises, and Information Professionals
Notable Social Networking Web Sites
A quick scan of the “Top 50 Notable” social network Web sites appears in the table below.6 The Web sites are compared using two size traits — user count and traffic. For example, MySpace stands number 1 in member count but number 4 in traffic. Google and YouTube outdo MySpace on traffic. MySpace user count numbers may be inflated, since many members create duplicate or false profiles. Classmates.com has the third highest number of users, but is not among the top-trafficked sites. Classmates.com is good at getting new users, but perhaps not as good at maintaining repeat users. In fact, several Classmates.com users we interviewed told of the difficulties they experienced when trying to end their relationship with Classmates.com.
Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 MySpace orkut Classmates Xanga Windows Live Spaces Friendster Broadcaster Reunion Bebo BlackPlanet Facebook Cyworld Last Facebox Friends Reunited LiveJournal Piczo LinkedIn Mixi WAYN Care2 Faceparty Gaia Online Passado Yahoo! 360° Bolt Flickr eSPIN MiGente Multiply Hyves TagWorld CarDomain GreatestJournal myGamma iWiW LunarStorm Stumbleupon Fotki IMVU Studivz Description/Focus General Owned by Google School, college, work, and the military Blogs and “metro” areas Blogging (formerly MSN Spaces) General Video sharing and Webcam chat Locating friends and family Schools and colleges African-Americans College/high school students Young South Koreans Music European young adults (14–24) School, college, work, sport, and streets Blogging Teenagers, Canadians, photo-sharing Business Japan Travel, lifestyle Green living and activism British teens and 20-somethings Anime and games General Linked to Yahoo! IDs General (music and video) Photo-sharing General Latinos Real-world relationships General; focus on students and Dutch speakers General (tagging) Car enthusiasts Blogs, based on LiveJournal Cell phones Hungary Sweden Websurfing Photo-sharing 3-D chat software University students, mostly in the German-speaking countries User count ? 162,400,000 46,423,762 40,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 29,100,000 26,000,000 25,000,000 22,000,000 16,000,000 16,000,000 15,000,000 15,000,000 14,000,000 12,000,000 10,921,263 10,000,000 8,500,000 8,000,000 7,000,000 6,900,000 5,900,000 5,000,000 4,700,000 4,700,000 4,000,000 4,000,000 3,800,000 3,600,000 3,000,000 2,311,790 1,850,692 1,600,000 1,514,865 1,510,000 1,500,000 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 Registration Open Open (Google login) Open Open Open (Windows Live ID) Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open (OpenID) Open Open Invite-only Open to people 18 and older Open Open Open Open Open to people 18 and older Open Open (Yahoo! login) Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Invite only Open Open Open Open Open Most Trafficked 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Google Personalized Homepage Google Video YouTube MySpace Orkut MySpace Video Flickr Facebook hi5 Friendster Xanga ImageShack Digg Webshots del.icio.us Bebo DailyMotion Metacafe LinkedIn Facebox Tagged Piczo TripAdvisor Last.fm StumbleUpon Multiply MyBlogLog Netvibes Slide.com Reddit MP3.com Kodak Gallery StumbleVideo Veoh iFilm Vox Shutterfly Pandora Meetup Yelp Photo.net
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SEARCHER: The Magazine for Database Professionals
Online Social Networks, Virtual Communities, Enterprises, and Information Professionals
42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 XING Xuqa Nexopia myYearbook Blurty RateItAll Grono The Student Center Vampire Freaks Graduates 43 Things Tribe Playahead Sconex DeadJournal GoPets IRC-Galleria Ruckus Threadless Flirtomatic Ryze DontStayIn aSmallWorld TakingITGlobal Ecademy Geni Phrasebase ProfileHeaven Travellerspoint Blue Dot MEETin Doostang Zaadz Consumating VietSpace Sportsvite Frühstückstreff Advogato Amiworthit Dandelife Delhii Dodgeball Gazzag Hi5 imeem Joga Bonito MOG Twitter Vox WebBiographies Yelp Business Colleges Canada General Blogs, based on LiveJournal Consumer ratings + social networking Poland Teens and colleges Gothic industrial culture School, college, and work Tagging General Swedish teenagers American high schools Dark blogs, based on LiveJournal Virtual pets Finland Music Custom T-shirts Flirting/dating Business Clubbing (primarily U.K.) European jet set and social elite Social action Business Families, genealogy Foreign languages (education) British teens Travel Link-sharing General Careers Social consciousness Consumeetings Vietnamese Recreational sports General Free software and open source developers Mutually good-looking students Collective narratives or “shared biographies” Mongolia Mobile location-based service, owned by Google General General Instant messaging Football (soccer) Music Update friends with your status through SMS, IM, Web interfaces Blogging Genealogy, biography United States adults 1,000,000 1,000,000 989,000 950,000 947,169 900,000 830,000 800,000 766,000 650,000 627,000 602,876 530,000 500,000 490,310 400,000 400,000 400,000 364,474 265,000 250,000 235,000 150,000 116,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 90,000 80,000 67,000 53,000 36,467 21,000 20,000 18,000 11,600 11,000 100 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown 629,603,368 Open Open Open Open Open Open Invite-only Open Open Open Open Open Open Open By invite or payment (OpenID) Open Open College students only Open Open to people 18 and older Open Open Invite-only Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Invite-only Open Open Open Open Open Open Open to students but approval-based Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open Open 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 NHL Connect PureVolume RockYou Etsy Twitter Revver Flixster vSocial Grouper ITtoolbox Stickam Blinklist Upcoming.org Blip.tv iLike Zwinky Pageflakes Ma.gnolia Tagworld StupidVideos LibraryThing Zlio MerchantCircle Dogster/Catster Kaboodle Eventful Jamendo Jamendo Jumpcut StyleHive VideoSift Zooomr ThisNext CampusBug VideoJug Protopage Fanpop Ziki YourMinis Wists BubbleShare Wadja MOG Trailfire Gotuit CastPost Minti CafeMom Twango ComicSpace
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July/August 2007
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