What is it about this social networking anyway? What does that even mean, "social networking"; isn't the term an oxymoron? Wasn't networking social to begin with what differentiates social networking from anything else?

Social networking has evolved from chatting and dating sites into interesting ways for businesses to connect with consumers, employees to become more productive and something that is very, very, profitable for some companies. Is the Facebook platform worth the millions of dollars that Microsoft put up for it? Can Facebook earn a considerable amount of cash through their advertising platform?

Who really knows how much money MySpace is making? One thing is sure, Social Networking needs a hook, some differentiator to set them apart from their counterparts. With MySpace it was the low barrier to entry. Unlike other sites, MySpace wasn't by nerds for geeks, it had a paired down, minimalist, feel that was "ghetto" by Internet website standards. Facebook on the other hand offered exclusivity, membership into a coveted club that required that you had a legitimate school website address to sign up.

Horrendous website design in which amateur blog enthusiasts plaster hundreds of conflicting images, Active X controls, Javascript, Flash, and God knows what sets the tone at MySpace. YouTube does have pirated videos, but they also have a lot of fan made material and obscure clips, many of which were never seen before. With YouTube it isn't just about being a fan of multimedia, but you have to develop a true appreciation of all things video to really get the site. People comment on videos, they respond to them with other videos and many take to vlogging to get their point across.

So social networking has to find a way to really get under your skin to motivate you to actively participate and stay tuned in. MySpace gets a rep for encouraging people to randomly hook up with each other. But the same features are readily available on Craigslist or any of the infamous adult social networking sites. MySpace is also known as a cool place to get free music, as many artists stream their music and with some know how you can download tracks, but then you can also do that on Soundclick.

Speaking of Soundclick, what differentiated that site from MP3.com? What set YouTube aside from Google Video, which actually has an even simpler interface and allows videos of an unlimited length to be posted? In fact, why do people put up with the low quality

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