guide to social networking on the web

Think that social networking sites are all about teens and 'tweens? Think again, they are as varied as the web itself. While FaceBook and Twitter clearly have the most users (both being ranked in the top 10 by Alexa.com) and garner the bulk of publicity – both positive, and increasingly negative – there are literally thousands of other sites that share the common characteristics of social networking or community sites e.g.; they allow their users to interact through chat, messaging, e-mail, discussion groups, file sharing (music or video), etc.

While so much attention is being focused on so many of the new sites, it's interesting that most other website critics seem to have forgotten the greatest social networking site of all ... Craigslist. From its humble beginnings in San Francisco, it now covers half the world and is growing everyday.

The challenge for us here at websitefaves.com is to put together a listing of those that fit within our basic requirements, i.e., that they are useful and family friendly.

To make some sense of the plethora of sites available, we have broken our faves down into three (3) broad categories:

General

Sites that have broad appeal to diverse audiences such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Hi5 and Stumbleupon.

Special Interest

Here you'll find sites such as Black Planet (African American), MiGente (Hispanic), Teachade (Teachers), okCupid (Dating), Linkedin (Business) and Flickr (Photo Sharing).

Tools

Want to blog, buzz or create your own social network?

This section will point you to our fave social networking tools, including sites such as Blogger, Webs, WordPress and NetVibes. Need software tools to create or edit your photos, audio or video, check out our free faves here.

But of course, this is only a brief snapshot of the world of Social Networking, and by the time you finish reading this page there will probably be ten more sites , and at least 100 blogs created. Stay tuned, we'll try to keep you up to date.

Got a fave(s) that we have left out? Tell us about it, we'll be glad to include it in the next update.