Popular Social Networking Websites

While all social networking websites have their own rules and restrictions, many websites operate in a similar way, with the same goals in mind.

Their goals are to allow Internet users to connect with other Internet users, often from all around the world.

There are many websites that are considered “general,” websites. These websites do not really have any particular focus, but there are social networking websites that do have a particular focus. Those focuses often include dating, religion, business, and school.

Here are a couple of suggestions I urge you to bear in mind when creating an account with a social networking site:

Always use your real name!

Think about it. Would you want to buy something from a person you know only as coolguy77?

Not likely. We’re talking about real business networking in this report so please act like a professional when you get out there and you’re results will be far greater.

Always Add Your Photo!

People like to have an image of the person they are meeting and talking with in their minds and a picture is the obvious best way to help with this. And it adds credibility to your cause.

Don’t be one of the people who are too self-conscious or just plain scared to display their picture on the Web. A clear photo of you on your profile page tells the world you are confident about who you are, and it will encourage others to have confidence in you as well.

Listed below are a few popular social networking sites for you to check out:

Orkut – Google’s Own Networking Site

Orkut is Google’s version of a social networking website. This website was created and officially launched in 2004. Orkut has a large number of members  from all around the world. What is nice about Orkut is that the system is easy to use once you get in.

To protect their social networking communities, a large number of social networking websites, including Orkut, have restricted access to the site. If you are interested in joining Orkut you must know someone who is already a member and they must invite you to join the community. If you do not personally know anybody who is an Orkut member, ask them for an invitation.

Classmates – Worth Mentioning For Personal Interest

Classmates is an online social networking website that is rapidly increasing in popularity. This website focuses on connecting long lost friends or old classmates. Classmates is free to use, but you must become a paying member to enjoy many of their member benefits. These benefits include, but are not limited to, searching for old classmates, reading their profiles, requesting more information from your classmates, or even contacting them.

MySpace – The Biggest Networking Site Of All

MySpace is probably the most popluar of all the social networking sites. They currently have over one hundred million members! MySpace, like many other social networking websites allows you to create your own profile, in fact, your own personal page.

Once your page has been created, you can easily invite other members to become a member of your network and visa versa. In addition to having a traditional profile page with your personal information, you can also display a large number of pictures, video clips, and music clips. And MySpace is completely free to use.

MySpace has literally taken the world by storm. This is because, in what seemed like no time at all, MySpace has grown to become one of the most popular websites in all of cyberspace.

Almost everyone knows about this site. It’s virtually a household name at this point.

And while at one time it was believed to be a place for teenagers to share pictures and talk about the latest pop concert, recent studies have indicated over 50% of the users at MySpace are over the age of 30!

Business people from every niche are now using MySpace to build their network of prospects and drive traffic to their business websites.

The first step in joining this popular online social network is to register for an account. This can be done in a matter of minutes. Although you can view a number of different MySpace pages without registering, you can’t fully interact without your own account.

Registration will allow you to not only create your own MySpace page, but enjoy many of the other features that can be found on the site. Again this service is completely free to use.

Your Profile Page

Once you join MySpace, you can create your own profile page. Don’t settle for the generic profile page they start you out with!

You need to customize this profile right away so it looks different. Use the profile editor to change the colors, add background images and photos, and fill in your bio information. Then add plenty of good content, including pictures and links to your other websites, on your profile page.

To make the experience easier, MySpace has a fairly large collection of profile templates. These templates not only have an impact on the background of your profile page, but the text fonts as well. In addition to using the pre-designed templates, you can also create your own, especially if you have basic knowledge of HTML. You can even purchase custom profile layouts or hire a pro designer to build you something really slick if you wanted.

Remember your MySpace profile is an extension of you in this cyber community so you want it to be a great representation of who you are and why people would want to get to know you. Add your personality and don’t just post a bunch of hype or business talk; remember people come to MySpace to find other people so if you seem fake on your profile you won’t do well with this site.

You can (and should!) even post an autoresponder form right on your profile page and offer visitors a free gift for joining your newsletter!

After you have created your own MySpace page, you can easily search for others. You can search for others with a wide variety of different keyword phrases. If you are looking for someone who lives near you, you can search for your town. If you are looking for someone who shares your love of animals, you can search for pet lovers. Once you have found the MySpace page of someone who you would like to become friends with, you can invite them to join your network. In addition to inviting others to join your network, there is a good chance that you will be invited to join others… this is the main benefit of being on MySpace.

In addidion to your customizable profile page, MySpace gives you a slew of other powerful options.