Social networking sites.

[TheIronStar]

I am considering joining a social networking site. I am new to social use of the web. (Never been a member of MySpace, FaceBook, or whatever, and none of my friends live internet-heavy lives.)

I am looking to join one for purely social purposes (no professional networking), and am looking for information on how to have an attractive site that still keeps my identity reasonably well guarded. (There won't be much of anything picture-wise, or anything too personal; I'm sure we've all heard of how things that go on the internet don't ever go away, and we've all heard about how someone's FaceBook page got someone easily identified in their work life to their detriment). (Of course, I'm not naive about the identity part and know that it's still quite easy to track the users.)

Are there any quality "style guides" or the like about this?

I'm mainly looking to use such a site to connect directly to new people, as none of my friends are on any such networks to my knowledge. Is it easy to start from no existing online social network and connect directly to new people?

Thanks for any information you all can offer.

[Michael Chui]

Look for mid-tier social network sites.

Most social networks are actually "A friend invited me and now we're all on here and we talk a lot." MySpace and Facebook are examples. You don't meet people there.

There are social networks that are dedicated to introducing you to new people. Do you have any niche interests? Try doing a google search on that, plus "social network" and you might find something.

Check out Ning.

[Ilya]

You can achieve your goals on a social network where there are "communities" (whatever they a called). There should be groups of people who share the similar interest. For your purpose any forum, yahoo or google group, livejournal, will do, even though they are not web2.0 social networks. Once you have some friends in one of those or similar places, just ask if they have an account on Facebook, or MySpace and use them to start your own social network.
If you are able to communicate under your own name, it will make the transition to sites like facebook easier, since there people tend not to use nicknames.

[ixmatus]

All of the mentioned ones are cool (I use facebook), but like others have said, they are geared towards finding and socializing with already established friends - or people you meet through your friends.

A few cool sites that seem more like what you are talking about, try these:

Tribe
43 Things
Instructables

The last one is more of a DIY'ers social networking site - but, I find it alot of fun to just participate in the discussions of certain projects, is definitely a very social site.

Tribe will probably be your best bet, I like the concept alot and the people are fun.

43 Things is also a cool concept and uses social networking around a '43 things I want to do' list concept (should appeal to Pavlina goers).

[justkira]

Hi there,

what kind of 'new people' would you like to meet? in other words, what do you want to have in common with these 'new people', eg location, school, hobby,...?

On FB you can put as much info up as you desire.

Looking fwd to your reply.

Kira

[TheIronStar]

Are there any good style guides or the like for making an attractive online social network personal-page?

For those who post on such sites pseudonymously; what do you do to keep the flow of information going without rendering yourself too identifiable?

Originally Posted by Ilya

You can achieve your goals on a social network where there are "communities" (whatever they a called). There should be groups of people who share the similar interest. For your purpose any forum, yahoo or google group, livejournal, will do, even though they are not web2.0 social networks. Once you have some friends in one of those or similar places, just ask if they have an account on Facebook, or MySpace and use them to start your own social network.
If you are able to communicate under your own name, it will make the transition to sites like facebook easier, since there people tend not to use nicknames.

Thanks, Ilya. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if it's by existing interest; I've encountered a few betrayals recently and am starting to realize that my interests are putting me around the kinds of people I don't want to be around. Basically I'm looking for a direct link to demographics I wouldn't encounter in week-to-week life. (Sounds strange given how stuff in common is important with finding new people, but that's what I had been thinking of looking for.)

Originally Posted by Michael Chui

Look for mid-tier social network sites.

Most social networks are actually "A friend invited me and now we're all on here and we talk a lot." MySpace and Facebook are examples. You don't meet people there.

There are social networks that are dedicated to introducing you to new people. Do you have any niche interests? Try doing a google search on that, plus "social network" and you might find something.

Check out Ning.

Thanks, Michael. Basically that was what I was afraid of regarding joining something like MySpace or FaceBook. What are tiers?

Originally Posted by ixmatus

All of the mentioned ones are cool (I use facebook), but like others have said, they are geared towards finding and socializing with already established friends - or people you meet through your friends.

A few cool sites that seem more like what you are talking about, try these:

Tribe
43 Things
Instructables

The last one is more of a DIY'ers social networking site - but, I find it alot of fun to just participate in the discussions of certain projects, is definitely a very social site.

Tribe will probably be your best bet, I like the concept alot and the people are fun.

43 Things is also a cool concept and uses social networking around a '43 things I want to do' list concept (should appeal to Pavlina goers).

Thanks, Ixmatus.

Originally Posted by justkira

Hi there,

what kind of 'new people' would you like to meet? in other words, what do you want to have in common with these 'new people', eg location, school, hobby,...?

On FB you can put as much info up as you desire.

Looking fwd to your reply.

Kira

Hi Justkira, this one's a tough one for reasons I mentioned in replying to Ilya; probably location for a core few, and the rest in farther-away places or other cities. For a few (but not a majority) a hobby or the like in common, but I've been finding that some of my hobbies and interests are putting me around the wrong kinds of people.

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by TheIronStar

Thanks, Michael. Basically that was what I was afraid of regarding joining something like MySpace or FaceBook. What are tiers?

Something I made up.

I'd consider a high-tier social network to be one that your average college student or geek knows about. It's probably been in the news several times in the past year.

A mid-tier social network is one that enthusiasts of a particular niche flock to, but most people don't know about. These forums, for instance, are mid-tier, because there are a lot of people (8000, probably 1000-2000 active), but it's not so wildly popular that everyone knows about it.

A low-tier social network, in my view, are those that are either niched around either a small group of friends (less than 100) or around a particular topic, but simply hasn't caught hold of more than 500 or 1000 people.

Basically, my point was that you don't want one that everyone knows about: you want one that the right people know about.

[TheIronStar]

Oh ok.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[Brutha]

Zaadz: Connect. Grow. Inspire. Empower. is a midsized network worth checking out.

[JimOfferman]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Zaadz

That name is just soooo wrong - to a Dutchie like me anyways.

('zaad' in Dutch means seeds or semen)

[Dan.Linehan]

Thats funny... its a Dutch site.

Zaadz: Our Mission.

Our Name. We'll start with the name. zaad. It's Dutch for "seed." Amazing how much potential is in a tiny seed, eh? We think so, too. That power reminds us of the amazing potential within each of us. We thought the idea of creating a company that inspires and empowers you to bring your "seed" to actualization would be pretty powerful. So, we created "Zaadz."

They left out the semen part..

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

They left out the semen part..

What did you think semen is?

[Swede]

Another networking site, it seems like its memebers are more focused on business and personal development then Zaads:

Pathconnect - Next Generation Media