Community & Social Networking

Have you ever thought about designing a cartoon character of yourself? Well, you're not alone. In fact, more than 26 million people have already done just that -- in WeeWorld.

By John Fuller

Xanga is a blogging community -- in fact, it says so right on the site's home page. But does Xanga offer more to users than simply a place to post their daily musings?

By John Fuller

Imagine walking around Zwinktopia's Zwinchester mall with your Zcard in-hand -- loaded with Zbucks. If you don't recognize any of these terms, then you must not be one of Zwinky's more than 16 million users.

By John Fuller

Everybody's heard of Facebook, MySpace and Friendster. But that wasn't always the case. How do you start your own social networking site?

By Jonathan Strickland

Millions of people are using Internet resources to research their roots. GenForum is one of the many resources available to both budding and seasoned genealogists alike, though unlike many other sites, it depends heavily on its users to function.

By Jonathan Atteberry

Stickam is a social networking site that lets you share broadcasts of yourself with your friends. Some people love it, but not everyone has embraced the Stickam phenomenon.

By Jonathan Strickland

Bebo is one of the most popular social networking sites in the world. It's part of the AOL family of Web sites, but what else sets it apart from the competition?

By Jonathan Strickland

In the 30 years that chat rooms have been around, social networking sites have evolved into sophisticated and complex systems. Chatango.com caters to our need for real-time communication online.

By Cristen Conger

The lifeblood of many local businesses is word of mouth. Online social networking sites like Yelp simply make it easier for people to spread the word about their experiences -- good and bad alike.

By John Fuller

If you'd like to be a broadcaster, but it doesn't look as if CNN or Fox News are going to sign you, do-it-yourself via Ustream. You can anchor to the masses from your very own home.

By Chris Obenschain

It can be difficult to chat online when you have too many friends using different messaging services, but you can use eBuddy to combine all of your contacts into one list.

By Chris Obenschain

It used to be that if you wanted to post pictures on your Web site or blog you'd have to find a hosting provider and pay for the service. But with TinyPic, you can host your images for free.

By Nathan Chandler

Moms have always been social. But now they've got a place to talk online. So what's so different about CafeMom and why do so many moms love it?

By Stephanie Crawford

Do you have so many books you can't count them all? Love making friends with other readers? Goodreads may just be the social network you've been looking for.

By Jonathan Strickland

Imagine that you're chatting with your friends online -- but instead of typing words into a chat window, you're watching a mini-you high-five your friends. That's the idea behind IMVU.

By Shanna Freeman

In an era of unprecedented financial instability, Investor Village helps people find and discuss the best ways to store and grow their hard-earned nest eggs. You have to pay to play, though.

By Dave Roos

In 2005, two high school students set out to create an online social networking site for students like themselves. Is it popular? You can bet your Lunch Money on it.

By Jonathan Strickland

RateMyProfessors lets you tell the world what you think of your teachers and figure out from whom you'd like to take your next class. But who tells the professor's side of the story?

By Stephanie Crawford

There are many different sites on the Internet that offer the opportunity to adopt virtual pets, but there's only one Subeta. What makes the site so different?

By Josh Briggs

Tagged is one of the most popular social networking sites in the United States, but it's also got a reputation as a spammer. Why is Tagged so controversial?

By Nathan Chandler

Chat was one of the first ways people used to network over the Internet, and Talk City is one of the oldest chat sites still online. What sets it apart from all the others?

By Ed Grabianowski

Do you like the idea of building your own penguin avatar and interacting with other penguins on a virtual iceberg? You're not alone. In fact, millions of users do just that on Disney's Club Penguin.

By John Fuller

Everyone can think of a few favorite Web sites that are worth another visit. In fact, that's what bookmarks are for. But Delicious is more than just a bookmark site -- it's a social bookmarking site.

By John Fuller

There are lots of places to look at photos online, but if you're an artist who wants to work in a community of fellow artists, where do you go? For many, it's deviantART.

By Nathan Chandler

Everyone's using social networking these days, including mom and dad. In fact, there's a whole category of social networking sites devoted to parenting.

By Josh Briggs