Friend Up

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FriendUpFriend Up is one of the newest social networking websites to open its virtual “doors.” It gives individuals the opportunity to meet and communicate with people who have similar interests. After becoming a member and filling out an interest profile, individuals will be connected to those members who share the greatest number of similar interests. They are then able to communicate with like-minded members as much and as often as possible.

FriendUp’s philosophy is that the more things people have in common, the more they have to talk about. Individuals are likely to get more out of their interactions with people they have similar interests with then those they do not.

FriendUp differs from other social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace in that it isn’t designed to help individuals stay in touch with family members and friends. Instead, it helps people create connections with those that they don’t yet know. In this way, the site takes a new, fresh approach to social networking.

FriendUp makes it easy for people to find others with similar interests. The site does all the work via its interest mapping system. Instead of individuals having to scroll through seemingly endless profiles, they are automatically connected to up to 12 people per day, who share the most number of interests. This saves both the time and frustration of having to do so oneself, like people are required to do at so many other social networking websites. People have the choice of whether to delete or “friendup” each connection.

Finding a social networking website that isn’t simply a repeat of a more established, well-known one, can be difficult. Many social networking developers and owners simply go with what’s hot and try to emulate it. This isn’t true of FriendUp. The site actually offers the web community something unique. The concept is simple but an effective one that is likely to be well received.

In summary, FriendUp is a newer social network, designed to help people meet new friends based on many shared interests. Connections and friends can communicate both individually as well as in groups. Its designed to make the process of connecting with like-minded people as simply and easy as possible.

Tumblr

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Tumblr ScreenshotTumblr is one of the newer social network sites. It was founded in 2007 and has since taken off. It’s is not as widely known as Blogger or Twitter, two sites that share some similarities with Tumblr, but it is well regarded and has its share of followers. Tumblr has been described as a mini-blogging platform. It’s more robust then Twitter, which is characterized as a micro blog, but doesn’t offer as many options or features as Blogger. Tumblr members are allowed to share and post pictures, music, text, links and videos. They can do this from their browser, desktop mobile phone and/or email.

Tumblr allows for customization of its member’s pages. Individuals will be able to make changes to the site’s standard themes, making it truly their own.

The folks over at Tumbler (members) are pretty active. On average, members post 14 times each month. That’s pretty prolific for mini-blogs. Many people upload pictures. In fact, nearly 50% of all blog posts consist of pictures.

Reblogging is pretty popular at Tumblr. When a person uses the site’s reblog feature they are able to take a post of someone else’s that they like and add it to their own blog.

Tumblr hosts a ton of blogs. In all, they have about 13,000,000. Whether or not all of them are active is anyone’s guess but doubtful. From all accounts, however, Tumblr is really active, with as stated above, the average member posts about 14 times of month.

At last count, there were 2,941,089,744 total blogs posts across the network of member blogs. Individuals looking for an active community should consider joining Tumblr. It’s free and the sign up process really easy.

Tumblr is easy to use and feature packed. Members receive their own blogs, which they can add pictures, videos, audio, text, links and quotes to. It’s possible to follow other members and access their pages. Updates made to those blogs a person is following, are presented on the dashboard in one stream. Overall, this is a really cool site and definitely worth joining.

Digg

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Digg ScreenshotDigg is a social news site. Unlike traditional news sites that rely on reporters to identify, write and then present the news, social news sites allow the public to act as researchers, reporters and presenters, all virtually. Digg members can report on whatever stories they like. There are very few limits. Once they do present a story other members can Digg the story, ignore it or sink it.

The more Diggs a story receives the better. Stories with the most Diggs are given better positioning and can be seen by a greater number of people. Landing on the site’s first page because so many people have voted (or Digg’d) it is the ultimate badge of honor and is what many of the site’s members, aspire to. It makes for great bragging rights.

Digg is very easy to use. The site’s design is rather simple and bare bones. Individuals that have spent time at a social news site before should pick up things pretty quickly. For those who have not, taking a few minutes and reading the instruction should be more than sufficient to quickly get up and running. While it’s not necessary to join the site in order to read the news posted there, it is required if an individual wants to post any stories. The sign-up process is really fast and straight-forward. It includes creating a username, password and submitting some very basic information about oneself, for instance, ones name and email address.

Digg is good for browsing and spending time at. A person could peruse through it all day and still not get close to seeing every store posted there. They can also submit stores. Doing so is a good way to inform the community about stories, causes and events that interest you. However, in order to have a real impact, it is important to get involved and be active. The most active members are those with the most power and reach. Dedicating some time each day, reading and Digging stories is one way to improve your standing and get more out of the site.

DeviantArt

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Deviantart Screenshot DeviantArt is dedicated to artists and those who appreciate art. Unlike many such sites which have cropped up in the last few years, this particular one has been around a long time, since 2000.

DeviantArt holds the distinction of being the biggest social network website for both artists and those who support and enjoy it. The site has a rather impressive 13 million members and hosts about 35 million visitors every month.

The aim of this site is to offer a medium for artists to showcase their work. It was also designed to promote both new and established artists. DeviantArt is a virtual exhibit open to the public 24/7. Because virtual space doesn’t have the same limitations as real space, many more artists are able to showcase their work. This is, of course, advantageous for both the artist and the art enthusiast.

Artists are able to share their art not only with the public but with other artists, which is pretty cool. DeviantArt provides a sense of community for these artists that isn’t found too many other places online or off.

Every day, roughly 100,000 pieces, all original, are uploaded to the DeviantArt website. This speaks to the need and desire of artists to show their work. DeviantArt gives them a platform to do so.

The types of art that can be found on the DeviantArt website are a bit of a mixed bag. The variety of art made available by artist on the site is pretty outstanding and impressive. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering that the art medium is so varied and bound only by an individual’s imagination. Visitors and members will find anime, digital art, film, painting and sculpture and pixel art, to name a few.

In a way, DivantArt is a bit like a virtual museum, one that never closes. It is really easy to get caught up looking at all of the work and lose track of time. Both individuals that are artists and who have a strong appreciation for it should definitely join this website. It is perfectly suited for these types of individuals.

Zorpia

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Zorpia ScreenshotZopria.com made its way online in 2003, almost 8 years ago. Since then, the website has grown in leaps and bounds. Today, it is one of the larger social network sites around. It has a huge international with members from all over the world. Zorpia, like nearly all social network sites, give individuals the opportunity to connect with people that they probably wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. The site gives them the chance to share their interests as well as maintain and develop friendships.

Zorpia offers its members access to features hat have become pretty standard for social networking websites. Each person gets their own customizable page, is able to leave comments and communicate with other members. Communication can be done via the site’s discussion forum. In addition to the above, individuals will have access to their very own photo album and online journals.

Members can upload both videos and pictures to the site. Many social network sites such as Facebook, Myspace and even Twitter, offer these features. However, even though both are readily available at many social network sites, they’re nice and popular for a reason. They give individuals an opportunity to show the world (or whoever’s looking) who they are in their everyday lives.

The journals offered at Zorpia give individuals a chance to share their thoughts, feelings, essentially whatever they want. Other members can leave comments, which is pretty neat and similar to Blogger and other blogging platforms.

In addition to the normal social networking features listed above, Zorpia offers their users fun options that aren’t available everywhere. It’s sort of mash-up of websites. There seems to be a little bit of everything. In addition to the journals, photo albums and customizable homepages, they also provide their members with a game section (which can potentially provide users with hours of fun), member matching, a place to share gossip and a “Who Viewed Me” feature.

Individuals who use the matching feature are able to have Zorpia find them matches based on common interests. This is a fun way to get to know other members with similar interests.

The music section of the site is pretty robust. Individuals will find features on lots of musicians. Zorpia members can visit the artist’s pages, join their list of friends and even leave messages.

The Groups section is another standout one. It is made up of roughly 11 categories and various topics. They are quite similar to forums. Individuals can post questions or comments and other members are able to respond. While the site is free. There is a paid option. Individuals who don’t’ want any limitations placed on their messaging capabilities and who want their profiles free of advertisements can pay for the privilege. The Royal Membership option costs $8.95 (for three months).