The main types of social networking services are those which contain category places (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust.
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Popular methods now combine many of these, with:
- Facebook and Twitter widely used worldwide; MySpace and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America.
- Nexopia (mostly in Canada).
- Bebo, Hi5, Hyves (mostly in The Netherlands).
- StudiVZ (mostly in Germany).
- iWiW (mostly in Hungary).
- Tuenti (mostly in Spain).
- Nasza-Klasa (mostly in Poland).
- Decayenne, Tagged, XING, Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe.
- Orkut and Hi5 in South America, India and Central America.
- Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, renren and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.
- Twitter, Orkut and Facebook in India.
Please note the list is not exhaustive, and is limited to notable, well-known sites.
| Name | Description/Focus | Users |
|---|---|---|
| Advogato | Free and open source software developers | 13,575 |
| ANobii | Books | |
| aSmallWorld | European jet set and social elite world-wide | 550,000 |
| AsianAvenue | A social network for the Asian American community | |
| Athlinks | Running, Swimming | 68,496 |
| Audimated.com | Independent music | |
| Avatars United | Online games | |
| Badoo | General, Meet new people, Popular in Europe and LatAm | 69,000,000 |
| Bebo | General | 117,000,000 |
| Bigadda | Indian Social Networking Site | 3,000,000 |
| BigTent | Organization and communication portal for groups | |
| Biip.no | Norwegian community | 430,000 |
| BlackPlanet | African-Americans | 20,000,000 |
| Blauk | Anyone who wants to tell something about a stranger or acquaintance. | |
| Blogster | Blogging community | 85,579 |
| Bolt.com | General | |
| Buzznet | Music and pop-culture | 10,000,000 |
| CafeMom | Mothers | 1,250,000 |
| Cake Financial | Investing | |
| Care2 | Green living and social activism | 9,961,947 |
| CaringBridge | Not for profit providing free websites that connect family and friends during a serious health event, care and recovery.[33] | 9,500,000 |
| Cellufun | Mobile social game network, Number 8 US mobile website[37] | 3,000,000 |
| Classmates.com | School, college, work and the military | 50,000,000 |
| Cloob | General. Popular in Iran | |
| CouchSurfing | Worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit. | 1,560,459 |
| CozyCot | East Asian and Southeast Asian women | 150,000 |
| Crunchyroll | Anime and forums. | |
| Cyworld | General. Popular in South Korea. | 24,000,000 |
| Disaboom | People with disabilities (Amputee, cerebral palsy, MS, and other disabilities) | 5,460 |
| DailyStrength | Medical & emotional support community – Physical health, Mental health, Support groups | |
| Decayenne | European and American social elite | |
| delicious | Social bookmarking allowing users to locate and save websites that match their own interests | 8,822,921 |
| deviantART | Art community | 9,040,962 |
| Disaboom | People with disabilities (Amputee, cerebral palsy, MS, and other disabilities) | |
| Dol2day | Politic community, Social network, Internet radio (German-speaking countries) | 40,200 |
| DontStayIn | Clubbing (primarily UK) | |
| Draugiem.lv | General (primarily LV, LT, HU) | 2,600,466 |
| Elftown | Community and wiki around Fantasy and sci-fi. | 185,000 |
| Epernicus | For research scientists | |
| Eons.com | For baby boomers | |
| Experience Project | Life experiences | |
| Exploroo | Travel Social Networking. | |
| General. | 500,000,000 | |
| Faceparty | General. Popular UK. | 200,000 |
| Faces.com | British teens | |
| Fetlife | People who are into BDSM | 500,000 |
| FilmAffinity | Movies and TV Series | 250,000 |
| FitFinder | Anonymous UK Student Microblogging Website | |
| FledgeWing | Entrepreneural community targeted towards worldwide university students | |
| Flixster | Movies | 63,000,000 |
| Flickr | Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide | 32,000,000 |
| Focus.com | Business to Business, worldwide | 850,000 |
| Folkdirect | General | 80,000 |
| Fotolog | Photoblogging. Popular in South America and Spain | 20,000,000 |
| Foursquare | Location based mobile social network | 2,000,000 |
| Friends Reunited | UK based. School, college, work, sport and streets | 19,000,000 |
| Friendster | General. Popular in Southeast Asia. No longer popular in the western world | 90,000,000 |
| Frühstückstreff | General | 14,800 |
| Fubar | dating, an “online bar” for 18 and older | 1,200,000 |
| Gaia Online | Anime and games | |
| GamerDNA | Computer and video games | 310,000 |
| Gather.com | Article, picture, and video sharing, as well as group discussions | 465,000 |
| Gays.com | Social network for LGBT community, Guide for LGBT bars, restaurants, clubs, shopping | 100,000 |
| Geni.com | Families, genealogy | 15,000,000 |
| Gogoyoko | Fair play in Music – Social networking site for musicians and music lovers | |
| Goodreads | Library cataloging, book lovers | |
| Google Buzz | General | |
| Gossipreport.com | Anonymous gossip | |
| GovLoop | for people in and around government | |
| Grono.net | Poland | 2,000,000 |
| Habbo | General for teens. Over 31 communities worldwide. Chat Room and user profiles. | 162,000,000 |
| hi5 | General. Popular in India, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa and Latin America. Not very popular in the USA. | 80,000,000 |
| Hospitality Club | Hospitality | 328,629 |
| Hotlist | Geo-Social Aggregator rooted in the concept of knowing where your friends are, were, and will be. | 80,000 |
| Hub Culture | Global influencers focused on worth creation | 20,000 |
| Hyves | General, Most popular in the Netherlands. | 10,097,000 |
| Ibibo | Talent based social networking site that allows to promote one’s self and also discover new talent. Most popular inIndia. | 3,500,000 |
| Indaba Music | Online collaboration for musicians, remix contests, and networking. | 350,000 |
| IRC-Galleria | Finland | 505,000 |
| italki.com | Language learning social network. 100+ languages. | 500,000 |
| InterNations | International community | |
| Itsmy | Mobile community worldwide, blogging, friends, personal TV-shows | 2,500,000 |
| iWiW | Hungary | 4,000,000 |
| Jaiku | General. Microblogging. Owned by Google | |
| JammerDirect.com | Creative resource website | 136,000 |
| kaioo | General, nonprofit | 30,000 |
| Kaixin001 | General. In Simplified Chinese; caters for mainland China users | |
| Kiwibox | General. For the users, by the users, a social network that is more than a community. | 2,400,000 |
| Lafango | Talent-Focused media sharing site | |
| Last.fm | Music | 30,000,000 |
| LibraryThing | Book lovers | 400,000 |
| lifeknot | Shared interests, hobbies | |
| Business and professional networking | 75,000,000 | |
| LinkExpats | Social networking website for expatriates. 100+ countries. | |
| Listography | Lists. Autobiography | |
| LiveJournal | Blogging. Popular in Russia and among the Russian-speaking diaspora abroad. | 17,564,977 |
| Livemocha | Online language learning – dynamic online courses in 35 languages – world’s largest community of native language speakers. | 5,000,000 |
| LunarStorm | Sweden | 1,200,000 |
| MEETin | General | |
| Meetup.com | General. Used to plan offline meetings for people interested in various activities | |
| Meettheboss | Business and Finance community, worldwide. | |
| Mixi | Japan | 24,323,160 |
| mobikade | mobile community, UK only | |
| MocoSpace | mobile community, worldwide | 3,000,000 |
| MOG | Music | |
| MouthShut.com | Social Network, social media, consumer reviews | |
| Mubi (website) | Auteur cinema | 200,000 |
| Multiply | “Real world” relationships. Popular in Asia. Not popular in the western world | 10,000,000 |
| Muxlim | Muslim portal site | 50,000 |
| MyAnimeList | Anime themed social community | 160,000 |
| MyChurch | Christian Churches | 144,295 |
| MyHeritage | family-oriented social network service | 30,000,000 |
| MyLife | Locating friends and family, keeping in touch (formerly Reunion.com) | 51,000,000 |
| My Opera | Blogging, mobile blogging, photo sharing, connecting with friends, Opera Link and Opera Unite. Global | 5,500,000 |
| MySpace | General | 130,000,000 |
| myYearbook | General, Charity | 20,000,000 |
| Nasza-klasa.pl | School, college and friends. Popular in Poland | 11,000,000 |
| Netlog | General. Popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab World and Canada’s Québec province. Formerly known as Facebox and Redbox. | 70,000,000 |
| Nettby | Norwegian Community | |
| Nexopia | Canada | 1,400,000 |
| NGO Post | Non-Profit news sharing and networking, mainly in India | 15,000 |
| Ning | Users create their own social websites and social networks | |
| Odnoklassniki | Connect with old classmates. Popular in Russia and former Soviet republics | 45,000,000 |
| OneClimate | Not for Profit Social networking and Climate Change | |
| OneWorldTV | Not for Profit Video sharing and social networking aimed at people interested in social issues, development, environment, etc. | |
| Open Diary | First online blogging community, founded in 1998 | 5,000,000 |
| Orkut | General. Owned by Google Inc. Popular in India and Brazil. | 100,000,000 |
| OUTeverywhere | Gay/LGBTQ Community | |
| PartnerUp | Social networking site for entrepreneurs and small business owners | 150,000 |
| Passportstamp | Travel | |
| Pingsta | Collaborative platform for the world’s Internetwork Experts | |
| Plaxo | Aggregator | 15,000,000 |
| Playahead | Swedish, Danish teenagers | |
| Plurk | Micro-blogging, RSS, updates. Very popular in Taiwan | |
| Present.ly | Enterprise social networking and micro-blogging | |
| Qapacity | A a business-oriented social networking site and a business directory | |
| Quechup | General, friendship, dating | |
| Qzone | General. In Simplified Chinese; caters for mainland China users | 200,000,000 |
| Raptr | Video games | |
| Ravelry | Knitting and crochet | 743,930 |
| Renren | Significant site in China. Was known as 校内 (Xiaonei) until August 2009. | 15,000,000 |
| ResearchGate | Social network for scientific researchers | 400,000 |
| ReverbNation.com | Social network for musician and bands | 500,000 |
| Ryze | Business | 500,000 |
| ScienceStage | Science-oriented multimedia platform and network for scientists | |
| Scispace.net | Collaborative network site for scientists | |
| ShareTheMusic | Music Community. Sharing and listening to music for free and legally | |
| Shelfari | Books | |
| Skyrock | Social Network in French-speaking world | 22,000,000 |
| SocialVibe | Social Network for Charity | 435,000 |
| Sonico.com | General. Popular in Latin America and Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions. | 17,000,000 |
| Stickam | Live video streaming and chat. | 2,000,000 |
| StudiVZ | University students, mostly in the German-speaking countries. School students and those out of education sign up via its partner sites schülerVZ and meinVZ. | 17,000,000 |
| StumbleUpon | Stumble through websites that match your selected interests | 10,600,000 |
| Tagged | General. Subject to quite some controversy about its e-mail marketing and privacy policy | 70,000,000 |
| TalentTrove | Online Talent Network | |
| Talkbiznow | Business networking | |
| Taltopia | Online artistic community | |
| Taringa! | General | 350,000 |
| TeachStreet | Education / Learning / Teaching – More than 400 subjects | |
| TravBuddy.com | Travel | 1,588,000 |
| Travellerspoint | Travel | 310,000 |
| tribe.net | General | |
| Trombi.com | French subsidiary of Classmates.com | 4,400,000 |
| Tuenti | Spanish-based university and High School social network. Very Popular in Spain | 4,500,000 |
| Tumblr | General. Micro-blogging, RSS | |
| General. Micro-blogging, RSS, updates | 75,000,000 | |
| Vkontakte | Social Network for Russian-speaking world including former Soviet republics. Biggest site in Russia | 91,600,000 |
| Vampirefreaks.com | Gothic and industrial subculture | 1,931,049 |
| Viadeo | Global Social Networking and Campus Networking available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese | 30,000,000 |
| Virb | Social network that focuses heavily on artists, including musicians and photographers | |
| Vox | Blogging | |
| Wakoopa | For computer fans that want to discover new software and games | 100,000 |
| Wattpad | For readers and authors to interact & e-book sharing | |
| Wasabi | General | |
| WAYN | Travel and lifestyle | 10,000,000 |
| WebBiographies | Genealogy and biography | |
| WeeWorld | Teenagers – 10 to 17 | 30,000,000 |
| WeOurFamily | General with emphasis on privacy and security | |
| Wer-kennt-wen | General, largest German Social Network | |
| weRead | Books | 4,000,000 |
| Windows Live Spaces | Blogging (formerly MSN Spaces) | 120,000,000 |
| WiserEarth | Online community space for the social justice and environmental movement | 34,240 |
| WorldFriends | ||
| Xanga | Blogs and “metro” areas | 27,000,000 |
| Business (primarily Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and China) | 8,000,000 | |
| Xt3 | Catholic social networking, created after World Youth Day 2008 | |
| Yammer | Social networking for office colleagues | |
| Yelp, Inc. | Local Business Review and Talk | |
| Youmeo | UK Social Network (focus on data portability) | |
| Zoo.gr | Greek Web Meeting point | 890,000 |
| Zooppa | Online Community for Creative Talent (host of brand sponsored advertising contests) | 60,000 |
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thumbs up for http://folkdirect.com – good security and privacy options :) Sophie P
i would like to see Ask4Prayer.com added as a social network
facebook i always used
I have submitted my website in there social networking sites and get back links very soon.
Great stuff, you hleepd me out so much!
Nde1U3 bbqsqipotwui
Good article. This is a problem in our weird world. We don’t know what to do.
A good new social network for teenagers is http://mycyc.com – blog, chat, profiles, all the usual social network stuff
My website’s purpose is to try to locate my tribe members and all other tribes and their members. It would be great to know the names of all the different tribes in every country, their languages and customs. Join in!
I want to have a contact with my other tribal members.
nice article thanks for sharing it
Amazing suggestions.