Free Online Social Networking Sites Aren't Just for Fun
March 30, 2010 | In: Internet Business
Sites that feature social networks and online social bookmarking are more popular now than ever. Yet, it’s difficult to determine which is right for you because it would be hard to try all of them. That’s where social media reviews come in. When reading the reviews, however, you might be shocked at how people’s points of view vary widely. Some people would fight for their social media choices to the bitter end. That may be due, however, to being unaware of all the available options, so they invested all their time without further investigation. Many who are adamant about defending one site aren’t aware of the variations between business networking sites, social bookmarking sites and online social networking sites that are primarily there for fun. Many are not aware that there are also social networking sites, like Capazoo, that use micropayments to incentivize users to visit the site and promote it to others.
Many social media users aren’t aware of the variations between online social networks because there is enormous overlap of features on the various sites. As an example, Facebook can be used for either business networking or to just have fun. Thousands of user-created free Ning networking communities have sprung up all over the Internet, such as New Energy Network. These type of social networking sites are significant because they’re completely user-driven and allow focused conversations surrounding people’s interests. And speaking of niches, book readers now have plenty of places to hang out online. Social networking sites for book lovers that feature book reviews, like Booksconnect, cater to bookworms everywhere. A less interactive format that is just as important as online networking sites is online social bookmarking, which has become very popular. Sites that feature social bookmarking, such as Mister Wong, allow logged-in users to save their online bookmarks for free. Social bookmarking sites also are a great help to Web searchers, because keyword tags that allow for easy searching can be assigned to each bookmark. The ability to use keyword tagging also is of value to Web marketers, because they know they will lead to backlinks for their sites. A single social bookmark link doesn’t carry a lot of weight yet when a site has many of them, it can change the amount of search engine traffic it receives. As with Mixx, when a link is posted on these web properties, it can often achieve high search engine rankings if the keywords were researched and the listing was entered correctly.
Blurring the line even further are sites like Digg, which allow online social networking and social bookmarking. They are quite useful for bookmarking URLs but they also provide a wonderful platform for online social networking and marketing. You can make a lot of friends on these sites and blog posts featured on these social networking sites have the potential to rank well in Google and other search engines. Tremendous benefits such as these are the reason people who make their livings online love online social media sites.
