by Daniel J. Gansle

Created on: January 12, 2009

In March 2002, Friendster became the first website geared toward the creation of online personal networks. Since that time, we've seen an explosion of websites dedicated to providing fun and unique ways to socialize in cyberspace. So where are the best places on the web to go and meet new people? In this article, we'll explore some of these social sites and how you can make the most out of your online experience.

What Types of Social Networking Websites Can I Sign Up For?

Today's online social networking landscape continues to expand daily. While MySpace and Facebook are the most widely recognized social networking titans, there are many other types of social sites where you can create an online profile, meet new friends, and share common interests. Let's take a brief look at a sampling of some of these sites from around the web.

General Social Networking Websites

The original social networking concept of creating a personal profile, adding friends, writing and sharing blogs, sharing videos and other and media, and building your social network of people with common interests comprise this category. The aforementioned Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook are undoubtedly the most widely recognized; others include Bebo, Orkut, hi5, and Tagged.

Social Bookmarking Websites

Storing bookmarks in your browser is a thing of the past. Share all of your favorite bookmarked websites with the online community at large using a social bookmarking site such as Delicious, Furl, Yahoo! Bookmarks, Blinklist, and Magnolia. A particularly unique take on social bookmarking is StumbleUpon, where you can submit sites for inclusion using the StumbleUpon toolbar. When you feel like doing a little web surfing, simply start "stumbling" and see what comes up. I've stumbled on numerous occasions, and I'm always amazed at what I find.

Blogging Websites

While blogging works a bit differently than adding friends on general social sites such as MySpace, they are nonetheless considered part of the social networking landscape. Registering for blogging sites such as Blogger, Xanga, WordPress,. TypePad, or the original blogging site LiveJournal allows you to publish your thoughts in daily blogs and syndicate them on the web. Anyone in cyberspace can come to your blog, add their comments, and message you. Others can come in and comment on other's comments, generating interesting (sometimes heated) conversations.

Microblogging Websites

Like blogs, micro-blogs allow you to share your thoughts and have others comment

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