Community & Social Networking

Most of us know that Internet communities and social networking sites are popular, but how do blogs, podcasts, wikis and companies like Digg and MySpace work? Learn more in the Social Networking section.

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You can change default Facebook settings to enable or block friends from sharing specific content, such as posts or pictures. Learn how to unhide friends in this article.

By HowStuffWorks.com Contributors

There are long-running jokes about addiction to the computer. Crackberry, anyone? But it's a very real and, possibly, very dangerous thing that shouldn't be taken lightly. Especially when children are involved. Here's how you can stay on top of it.

By Sara Elliott

It's easy to see why parents would want to keep tabs on their kids' private chats, but it's not such an easy task to accomplish. How can you stay up to date on what your child's doing on Facebook?

By Jessika Toothman

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While Facebook stipulates kids should be at least 13 to create an account, it's not that hard for younger children find a way into the social networking site. How young is too young to be on Facebook?

By Jessika Toothman

Smartphones enable us to interact with the world around us in many different ways. Foursquare turns a night on the town into a great big game with real rewards.

By Jonathan Strickland

How many of you have lost touch with an old school friend? Classmates.com was founded to help people reconnect with one another. But why is the site so restrictive?

By Jonathan Strickland

USENET has been offering Internet users the chance to talk to one another since 1979. But true USENET fans want more. What does EasyNews offer them that their ISPs don't?

By Josh Briggs

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Social networking sites on the Internet have brought people with all kinds of interests together. Knitting and crocheting enthusiasts hang out on Ravelry. But what can you do on the site?

By Stephanie Crawford

One craze that's taken off across many social networking sites is the ability to create quizzes for your friends and followers. Quizilla helps you do just that.

By Stephen Cross

MiGente is a social networking site with a focus on Latino culture in the United States. What services does the site offer that helps people make new friends?

By Stephanie Crawford

Orkut is a social network that's popular in many parts of the world, though it lags behind many others in the United States. How did this Google site get its start?

By Stephanie Crawford

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Google Groups has several features that can help you keep in touch with friends, connect with people who have similar interests, and organize projects and presentations.

By Jonathan Atteberry

Hi5 is a social networking site that's based in the United States but more popular in other countries around the world.

By Nathan Chandler

Want to make friends and keep them with you on the go? MocoSpace may be just the social networking site for you. And you don't even have to have a fancy smartphone to use it.

By Stephen Cross

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

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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

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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

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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